ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effects of the abuse on women's mothering. It explores three core ideas: mothers' coping strategies, the meanings they attach to their mothering, and their support mechanisms in the aftermath of abuse to consider the implications for mothers' caregiving. On discovery of the abuse, mothers in effect have to balance their own emotional needs whilst also having to take care of the emotional needs of their children. Specifically, mothers need to resolve feelings of loss and grief before they can be an effective source of support to their children in a time of distress. For the most part, mothers must struggle on their own to deal with the complex needs and demanding behaviour of their children following abuse. To appraise the choices mothers make for their children, it is necessary to understand how the combined effects of oppression and devaluation serve to circumscribe mothers' caregiving.
