Shattered Lives

"Shattered Lives" bears witness to the lives of children who have experienced abuse and neglect, and highlights the effects of early traumatic episodes. Chapters take the form of letters to a child capturing their life experiences, hugely impacted by sexual abuse, parental substance misuse and loss, leading to feelings of shame, rejection and worthlessness. Batmanghelidjh offers understanding for those baffled by these hard-to-reach children and warns against stigmatizing them for their problem behaviour. In her critique of existing structures, she exposes the plight of children who are overlooked by the authorities and denounces those who value bureaucracy over the welfare of the individual child. Society's failure to acknowledge the truth of their experiences and act to change the environment in which such mistreatment can flourish is, she strongly argues, leading to the death of childhood. The book is a clarion call for change.

'This wonderful bombshell of a book is a sustained, honourable and timely paen of fury on behalf of the children whose murdered childhood haunts and damages us all. In these circumstances "neutrality is offensive" from all professionals and indeed adults who disguise the real level of pain they witness in children for the sake of easier research, policy, relationship with peers and superiors.' Valerie Sinason, PhD, MACP, MInst Psychoanal, FRSA, child psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst 'Camilla Batmangelidgh is a remarkable woman, a child who grew up to fight for children and childhood. This is a truly remarkable book. We must all ensure that it becomes life changing. Politicians should read it with a view to examining why and how we let children fall between the cracks of societal aspiration, legislation and protection, to be damaged and then do damage to others. Public servants should read it to remember why they exist. As parents we should read it and then love and understand our children a little better in the future. Read it and weep. Read it and resolve that we must do better. If it was hard to write and at times hard to read, imagine what it was to live.' Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty (the National Council for Civil Liberties)

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