How do I talk to my child about sexual violence when the person who harmed them was someone they cared about?

This is one of the hardest situations for children. Love, trust, fear, and harm can exist at the same time. Children may feel grief alongside anger or confusion.

You can say, “It’s okay to miss someone and still know what they did was not okay. Feelings don’t cancel out harm.” Naming this complexity helps children stop judging themselves for their emotions.