Child abuse is not only an act of violence; it is an erasure. It erases safety, trust, innocence, and a child’s belief that they are worthy of love and protection. In South Africa, where many forms of violence are normalised or hidden in silence, the work of rebuilding what abuse takes away is both urgent and profoundly difficult. In this episode of Voices of Change, Heidi Giokos sits with Dr Shaheda Omar of the Teddy Bear Foundation to confront that reality with honesty, clarity and emotional truth.
From the first moments of the conversation, the scope of the crisis becomes painfully clear. Children as young as six months old are brought to the Foundation with symptoms of sexual assault. Others arrive after suicide attempts or severe bullying. Some are acting out harmful sexual behaviour because they themselves have been violated, exposed to pornography, or raised in homes and communities where violence is a daily language. And in many other cases, the abuse has been happening for months or years without detection, disguised by the child’s silence; a silence shaped by fear, shame, manipulation, or the belief that adults simply will not believe them.
Dr Omar details how abuse fractures a child’s developing mind. The trauma is emotional, psychological, physical and neurological. Exposure to domestic violence, overcrowded living spaces, poverty, absent or inconsistent caregiving, and a lack of trusted adults all compound the risk. Children internalise guilt. They hide wounds. They cope through behaviour that adults then punish instead of understanding. And in the cases of child-on-child abuse; now nearly half of all cases; the line between victim and offender becomes blurred by cycles of harm and the absence of early intervention.
What the Teddy Bear Foundation offers is not a quick fix, but a restorative ecosystem. Dr Omar explains how forensic assessments help determine the truth of a child’s disclosure using specialised, child-centred techniques. This protects children in court and helps prevent secondary trauma. Medical examinations are conducted gently and respectfully, ensuring children feel safe rather than re-violated.
Therapeutic care is layered; trauma counselling, play therapy, behavioural interventions, family support; all aimed at rebuilding internal stability so that healing can begin.
But the conversation also highlights a parallel truth: the systems surrounding these children are failing. Families seeking help encounter under-resourced police officers, overworked social workers, and delayed responses that worsen trauma. Many children have nowhere to turn. Others are disbelieved. Some cases collapse because caregivers withdraw charges. And in countless instances, the presence of perpetrators within the home means silence becomes a child’s only survival strategy.
Yet amid this, Dr Omar speaks with quiet conviction about progress. Awareness campaigns, school-based education, AI-supported reporting tools, and child-rights initiatives are slowly shifting cultural norms. The Foundation’s “SPARK” programme for children who sexually offend has shown overwhelmingly positive outcomes; with children who receive therapeutic intervention showing almost no re-offending. This is what rebuilding childhood looks like: prevention, early intervention, specialised care, community involvement, and a justice system that understands children’s developmental realities.
Throughout the interview, Heidi returns to one essential question: Where do we find hope? For Dr Omar, the answer exists in the individual child; the smile that returns after months of therapy, the child who finally sleeps through the night, the teenager who testifies without breaking, the family that begins communicating again. Healing happens one child at a time. And while the systemic failures are immense, every moment of safety created for a child is a victory against harm.
“Where Childhood Is Rebuilt After Abuse” is not just a conversation. It is a reminder of the responsibility shared by families, communities, institutions and the state to protect the most vulnerable among us; and to listen to children long before they break.
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