Written by Teresa H. –  Angels by Grace Pub. April 2003

I was sexually abused from the time I was three years old until I moved away from home at the age of sixteen. My father was an alcoholic and my mother abused prescription drugs.

I was unusual as a child, in that I did not keep the abuse a secret. I remember at age six, we all were at the dinner table. I told my mother what my father was doing to me while I would take my naps. I was severely punished by both for speaking “such lies.” It was at that point I learned that I was not safe.

My childhood was not a time of fairy tales, teddy bears, and play. Instead it was a constant battle for survival. My father was a very violent man. He often beat my mother and all six of us…