I was debating on if I would mention this or not, but after reading everyone's responses I couldn't stop thinking about it today. I won't go into detail, but I unfortunately had this experience happen to me as a child growing up in the 80s. There was a private reproof of the individual a couple years after what happened. My family switched halls after I told them everything. They pursued and pursued the elders about it. I was a kid, fairly sharp I guess, but painfully shy and guilt/shame ridden for even the slightest things. I still don't know all of what went down with my parents and the elders. I was kind of kept in the dark, I don't know if they thought that they were doing this to protect me. I look back now being in my early 30s and recognize they thought they were doing the right thing.
My therapist has helped me direct the anger towards the real source, and to handle it effectively. In case anyone is curious, I faded quickly about 3 years ago - not disfellowshipped, but I'm still effectively shunned by all of my family. I don't talk to any of my old "friends" either. Last I heard there were some pretty wild/untrue rumors out there about me. I'm at the point where I don't care.
I guess the reason I started this thread was to fish for stories about Witness parents who actually went to the police regarding child abuse from someone in the congregation. Sadly I haven't heard of any. As I mentioned in the first post, I had heard a story of a family several years ago who did go to the police regarding child abuse. I have no clue if this is even true, and no way to substantiate it. I guess in the back of my head, I thought that if I heard a story where a family did the proper thing and immediately went to the police, it would help alleviate some anger, knowing that there are some people out there who will do the right thing despite being part of a cult.
Wow! I didn't expect to write that. Sorry if I was long winded. Thanks for reading, it felt good to get that out there.
