Father Figure

Here are some reviews for this book:

I have been working on the prevention and mitigation of child sexual abuse (CSA) for 14 years. The level of CSA occurring throughout our nation and the world is staggering – and often devastating. And most of it occurs by people who know and have access to the child on a regular basis, including an extraordinary number of family members – a good part of the difficulty in addressing it. Unfortunately, the closer we get to “home,” literally and figuratively, the less likely we are to deal with it due to the personal shame, the unavoidable involvement of family and/or community members, and the responsibility of caretakers of the child. Child sexual abuse, unlike breast cancer, which had its own battle to emerge into the light of discussion and research and societal address, is someone’s and often more than one person’s fault.

Something needs to change – in fact, a lot needs to change and we have to be able to get individuals and our societal systems to “listen” and act.

Father Figure by Sumi Mukherjee is a brilliant and captivating piece of story-telling – through the medium of a very important and poignant personal tale, but it is much more. In a manner that draws us in to “witness,” sympathize, and empathize with the personal lives of Mr. Mukherjee and the adults and children who Mr. Mukherjee came to know, Father Figure provides key information, salient advice, and guidance on what child sexual abuse is, what it does, how it happens, how to recognize it, what to do about it, and how to prevent it. The story more than holds one’s interest, as it needs to do in order to get people to “listen” and wake up to what is happening all around us, and act! Now, with information available through mediums like Mukherjee’s Father Figure, perhaps we will!

– Pamela Pine, PhD, MPH
Founder and CEO
Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse Inc.
Glenn Dale, MD

Father Figure gives a riveting account of how a family friend chose not to give up until justice was served for two defenseless little girls, who were possibly in line to be preyed upon by their mother’s boyfriend…a “registered sex offender”. This man hid in plain sight… in the home with his potential victims… while on probation for being convicted of a molestation crime he committed against an 11-year old girl.

Studies have shown that sexual violence is a vicious cycle.   This book goes into great detail highlighting the behavior of an adult who is likely a survivor of childhood molestation. This vicious cycle seems to continue particularly for the survivors who did not get the counseling they desperately needed as children.

If a victim is “not believed” as a child, if they “weren’t given the opportunity to disclose” their victimization in a safe environment, or if they did not get the counseling they needed as a child to work through the trauma of being victimized by their predator, the cycle seems to continue.   This book gives a snapshot of the life of a mom who seems to repeat a pattern that could be harmful for herself and her children.

This book is captivating. It gives an account of how a family friend believed in the cause of keeping those girls safe and worked tirelessly with family, friends, law enforcement, the justice court system, and other interested organizations such as child protection system and rape and sexual abuse crisis center.   It’s educational and loaded with resources that will educate the reader on the dos and don’ts of single moms dating in the 21 century. Most importantly it tells the true story of a “father figure” who worked tirelessly to save two girls from a possible scenario of abuse by a convicted sexual predator. The book also makes a key point that ‘prevention’ means doing something before it happens – it means avoiding a scenario that might lead to possible abuse.

– Bevelyn Mitchell
Rape Crisis Center
Myrtle Beach, SC

The account of this mission was riveting.  The ways that he relived so many of these harrowing experiences on his mission to protect children must have been exhausting, yet he persevered to bring attention to a very personal matter.

Although the purpose of this book is to educate the public and prevent sexual abuse of children, I felt that is was written in such a way that it was healing to the author in a very personal fashion.

What a triumphant message this book is sending the reader, the abuser and the victims.  The author took on a huge risk becoming so involved with this family, but his dedication and desire to help proved to be triumphant for many and a wake-up call to some.

– Ellen Olsson
Safe Homes, Inc.
Winfield, KS