Reeves' work as founder and president of MASA, MOTHERS AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE, a
national non-profit organization formed in 1992, has allowed her to funnel her expertise
into lobbying for groundbreaking legislative changes such as eliminating the statute
of limitations in California. MASA's focus is on providing help for abused children
and adult survivors by guidance to of child sexual abuse, as well as. Claire Reeves
has received numerous honors for her important work, including:
* Honored by the mayor of Los Angeles for her work with children.
* The California Assembly and Senate have both bestowed honors on Reeves.
* The county of Los Angeles awarded Reeves for her dedicated service to
the people if Los Angeles.
* Governor Pete Wilson honored Reeves with a special tribute in 1996.
* In 1997 Reeves was honored as a Woman of the Year for Los Angeles County.
Meet Claire Reeves - Atlas
Claire Reeves C.C.D.C., is a nationally noted therapist, advocate and speaker on
the subject of child abuse. She has appeared on radio and television programs, and
at professional conferences nationwide. She is recognized as an expert witness and
has been called on to testify in high-profile child abuse cases. Reeves' has worked
extensively with survivors of child sexual abuse over the years as well as with other
victims' rights advocates, whose tireless lobbying has helped to gain positive legal
changes to enhance the rights of the most vulnerable victims of sexual abuse: our
children.
Reeves wrote Childhood: It Should Not Hurt! as a way to get information out to the
public, but had some specific goals in mind when she set down to the task:
"After working with thousands of adult survivors of sexual abuse, this book was
something I knew I had to do. I wanted to write something readable and straightforward.
This sensitive topic is fraught with many legal issues before we even get to the
long-term ramifications for survivors of child sexual abuse, who statistically have
a higher rate of chemical and alcohol dependency and higher rates of depression than
the rest of the population. While many survivors do more than just survive, issues
often remain for the lifetime of the survivor.
Childhood: It Should Not Hurt! was written for anyone, the lay-person or the
professional. There is help available for survivors as well as for parents of sexually
abused children. Shocked parents are often so devastated that they are unable to
cope with the legal and emotional concerns, and this book provides them with a list
of national and international resources, and much information to help on all levels.
Childhood: It Should Not Hurt! will help to identify red flag behaviors, signs
and symptoms of a sexually abused child, procedures that parents might experience
within the courts, with police and social services. There is also information for
non-offending parents on what to do and what not to do to protect your child. The
legal system is far from perfect, but educating parents, professionals and the public
will go a long way to protect our children. Supporting organizations that promote
legal change like MASA will also help to chip away at archaic laws that are failing
victims of sexual abuse. Although some areas are behind the times, there seems to
be a trend happening. More and more regions are educating and making legal changes
that make recognizing and protecting our children a little bit easier."
Reeves' work as founder and president of MASA, MOTHERS AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE, a national
non-profit organization formed in 1992, has allowed her to funnel her expertise into
lobbying for groundbreaking legislative changes such as eliminating the statute of
limitations in California. MASA's focus is on providing help for abused children
and adult survivors by guidance to of child sexual abuse, as well as. Claire Reeves
has received numerous honors for her important work, including:
- Honored by the mayor of Los Angeles for her work with children.
- The California Assembly and Senate have both bestowed honors on Reeves.
- The county of Los Angeles awarded Reeves for her dedicated service to the people
if Los Angeles.
- Governor Pete Wilson honored Reeves with a special tribute in 1996.
- In 1997 Reeves was honored as a Woman of the Year for Los Angeles County.
