IN-DEPTH: Two teenagers discuss their child abuse
TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — It's a topic no one likes to discuss: child abuse. Two teenagers who were abused by adults, Clara Rocha and Rene Sepulveda, have shared their experiences in an effort to help others in similar situations find hope and heal. The Children's Advocacy Center of Southern Arizona (CAC) helps end child abuse and assist victims in healing. The teens were abused as children by their peers and their stepfather, who is now in prison. The CAC's mission is to reduce trauma for the child and support their family as a supportive network so they can heal. Both teenagers are now healing and plan to attend college and work at the CAC.
게시됨 : 4주 전 ~에 의해 Lupita Murillo ~에 General
TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — It's a topic no one likes to discuss: child abuse.
However, it's very much a reality.
That's where the Children's Advocacy Center of Southern Arizona comes in, ending the abuse and helping victims heal.
News 4 Tucson spoke with two teenagers who were abused and are now healing and want to share their experiences to help others in similar situations.
They want people to know there is hope and there is healing.
Clara Rocha said, "I was abused by a peer of mine and groomed by their mother."
Rene Sepulveda added, "I was abused by my mother and her husband."
Both teenagers came to the Children's Advocacy Center of Southern Arizona, broken but now healing.
Marie Fordney is the executive director of CAC.
"So, the whole idea of an advocacy center is to reduce trauma for the child, and to help their family be the supportive network that they need so they can heal," Fordney said.
Rocha was 15 when they came to the CAC.
"I was in a relationship with a peer of mine that was kind of forced upon me."
"She just wanted me to be in a relationship with her child so badly even though they were mistreating me in many ways, physical and mental. "
They say they tried to leave, but it was difficult. They finally opened up to friends about the dilemma and came to the CAC, where they turned their life around.
"I deserve a healthy relationship, and my boundaries need to be respected, and I wouldn't have truly known those things without the CAC."
Sepulveda is 16 years old and kept quiet about the physical and mental abuse she endured as a child. She is the oldest of six siblings. When she turned, 14 her stepfather began making sexual advances.
"He never got physical, but he began grooming me and manipulating, attempting to convince me to agree to become physical with him."
She had enough, went to the authorities, and the stepfather is now in prison. She, like Clara, is coming forward for a reason.
"I want to make sure that no young person is putting up with abuse or toxicity in any way."
The teenagers told me they would be going to college.
Rocha is looking at film and theater.
Sepulveda wants to become a pediatric nurse and work at the CAC.
주제: Crime