Disney as therapy: Holiday trips to Walt Disney World help abused children recover and move forward

For children who have been victims of abuse, the holidays can be a troubling time. Each Christmas, a little talked about form of therapy for abused children takes place quietly among the crowds at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida.

As a young college graduate, one of my first jobs was as a live-in staff member at a home for abused children. During the recruitment process, nobody had discussed the details of the children's abuse with me. As it turned out, all of the children I worked with had been sexually abused by their parents, whose parental rights had since been terminated. To these seven to fourteen-year-olds, all adults were suspect, and Mommy and Daddy were in jail.

The ultimate goal of the full-time, residential treatment facility was to place the abused children in its care with adoptive parents. Before this could happen, the children had to learn that it was not normal for adults to have sex with children. The adult staff members were responsible for modeling "normal" adult-child interactions at the group home. Based upon their past relationships with abusive parents, however, most of the children did not feel safe around adults.

Children were instructed to refer to all staff members as "staff." This practice was intended to prevent the children from forming strong attachments with staff members, since they would ultimately be parted when an adoptive family took the children into their home. In reality, many of the children would remain wards of the state until they reached adulthood.

Working and living with these children twenty-four hours a day, for weeks at a time, produced strong maternal feelings within me for the first time in my life. I turned twenty-three years old at the group home, but because we were discouraged from sharing our personal lives with the children, nobody knew it was my birthday that day. It was a worthwhile trade-off, however, because working the Thanksgiving "shift" (which extended to fourteen days inside the group home, without relief) reduced the chances of being assigned to the Christmas "shift" with the children, which traditionally took place at Walt Disney World. Working that holiday would have meant missing my last Christmas with my grandfather, who suffered a fatal heart attack the following spring.

 For most children, spending the Christmas holiday at Disney World would be a dream come true. For children who have been legally separated from their abusive parents, however, being surrounded by thousands of children making happy memories with their loving, non-abusive parents was excruciatingly painful. It was also highly therapeutic.

The group home sent several van loads of children and staff to Disney World each year. Although the children exhibited profound behavior problems as a result of their abuse--behaviors chosen to stave off potential acts of abuse, at least for a short period of time--these problems rarely surfaced at the parks, where the children spent hours observing healthy family behavior, in addition to enjoying the rides and attractions.

Staff members were prohibited from showing affection--physical or emotional--toward the children. Their role was to help the children in their care cope with the intense emotions they felt while watching whole families interact with each other at the "Happiest Place On Earth." The children's own parents had committed unspeakable acts of abuse against their offspring.

During therapy sessions at the group home, children challenged staff members who attempted to explain to them that a parent's job is to love and protect a child in a selfless way. On one occasion, after a male staff member had just told the group that most parents are kind and caring, a nine-year-old girl responded, "My Daddy is evil." At Disney World, aside from the occasional squabble or temper tantrum, families are typically full of smiles, hugs, and giggles. For abused children, Disney provides living proof that most families are supportive and nurturing.

After the holidays, the children boarded the vans for the long drive back to the group home, exhausted but slightly more optimistic that one day, they would be able to visit Disney World with a family of their own.

Peggy Macdonald is a freelance writer, doctoral student and WDW Twourist. She writes about Disney daily for Examiner.com.