Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2991

Tonight's special guests are Terrie MacClalus & Rev Henry (Hank) McGrath, both from upstate New York. Returning NAASCA family members, they requested appearing together. The middle child of 5, Terrie says, "At ten, my parents split up and we became a tug of rope. That was also the end of my innocence and the beginning of what would become sexual harassment and a feeling of unworthiness and just feeling dirty. Shame was heavily used to teach lessons." She goes on,  "I also felt abandoned. I learned at an early age to escape painful feelings. I turned to drink to numb my heart. Of course that didn't work but it kept a husband happy." But she always felt the shame her mother had left her with. "If sexual abuse weren't such a taboo subject maybe she would have noticed the day of the triple rape. I was 14."  Hank began life in a poor 2nd-generation Irish family with 4 siblings in NY. Both parents were alcoholics. By age 11 he was hustling to survive in Pittsburgh, PA with bookies, pimps, and prostitutes. It was dangerous for a child alone, and Hank carried trauma from it his whole life. He served time in the juvenile detention system and as a young adult in prison for crimes he'd committed. Terri eventually changed. "In my 50's after 11 years clean and sober, I decided I couldn't take the pressure anymore. The addiction was waiting for me. It would take years before I would dare to try to face my life again." Terri says. After decades of hard living and a few near-death situations, Hank began facing his childhood trauma and by the 90's was happily married. When his beloved wife died from cancer in 2001 Hank promised her to fight for others on the issues of child abuse. Today, Hank is a minister and is very active in his community.