ABSTRACT
No family member has been more scrutinized or has attracted more opprobrium than the mother. This chapter outlines the ways in which the accountability of the harming father is operationalized to avoid the mother-blaming that is embedded in institutional responses to incest. It provides examples of powerful impacts of harming father taking responsibility for his actions, by explicitly making transparent complex web of behaviours through which he abused child and attempted to disable the mother as a potential resource to assist child. Therapy with the mother involves supporting her through the painful process of unravelling the effects of the harming father's tactics on herself, her relationship with her partner, and with the victimized child and other family members. The victim's and the mother's resistance to these tactics, both before and after disclosure are explored and validated. The chapter discusses the ways in which children resist in the face of oppressive abuse.
