Children Who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project

In Children Who See Too Much, Betsy Groves debunks the myth that young age is a protector against the lasting effects of witnessing violence in the home. She makes the powerful case that traumatic events carried out by family members carry the most severe psychological risks for very young children and uses the newest cognitive research to explore how very young children process violence.

Groves draws upon the Child Witness to Violence Programs award-winning training programs for parents, teachers, police officers, clergy, and pediatric health care providers to lay out ways adults can understand and protect the very young children—all around us—who see too much.

“Groves provides six practical steps that will help parents create a safer world, regardless of neighborhood or race. The model presented in this book is clearly a valuable one for other communities to copy.” —Library Journal

“Betsy Groves offers rare insight for adults who seek to help children cope with trauma and violence.” —James Garbarino, Ph.D., author of Parents Under Siege

“As the events of Sept. 11 drive home, there is no way, these days, to keep images of death and destruction entirely away from the eyes (and out of the nightmares) of our children. . . . Children Who See Too Much will fill the need for a road map felt by parents overwhelmed by all the awfulness around them.” —Judith Warner, The Washington Post

Betsy McAlister Groves is founder of the nationally recognized Child Witness to Violence Program at Boston City Hospital. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.