When a child discloses sexual abuse, the immediate priority is the child’s safety and recovery. Yet the nonoffending caregiver, most often the mother, also faces intense emotional, cultural, and systemic pressures (e.g., loss of income, loss of a caregiver, change of residence, and limited community support; Goslin et al., 2013; Letourneau et al., 2018; Pittenger et al., 2017). Many Latina mothers struggle with guilt, fear, and shame while navigating complex systems in a second language. Cultural norms such as familismo (family loyalty) and simpatía (the wish to maintain harmony) can both sustain resilience and silence distress.
Research suggests that Latino/a caregivers may be more likely to experience cumulative traumatic events (e.g., violence and poverty in the country of origin, piecemeal migration, family separations, and intergenerational trauma; Alcántara et al., 2013; Cerdeña et al., 2021). Recent syntheses document ‘chilling effects’ of immigration enforcement on Latino/a families’ use of health and social services, driven by fear of deportation and institutional mistrust (Vital, 2025; Young et al., 2023). For child protection workers or mental health professionals, Latino families may appear uncooperative due to language barriers, low levels of acculturation, negative perceptions of the legal and social service systems, and fear of deportation (Fontes & Tishelman, 2016; Fontes, 2005; Orozco et al., 2001). Controlling for socioeconomic status, Leslie et al. (2005) found that Latino/a children were half as likely as non-Latino/a children to receive outpatient mental health services following child welfare involvement, regardless of the form of maltreatment experienced. Therefore, it is important to engage the caregivers who bring the children to the therapy spaces.
Regardless of how the caregiver’s response is defined or assessed, there is growing consensus that nonoffending caregivers of child sexual abuse (CSA) victims require targeted mental health support (Tavkar & Hansen, 2011). Yet, recent research on caregivers’ psychological needs remains limited, particularly within the United States (Davies & Bennett, 2022; Fong et al., 2020; Vilvens et al., 2021). Davies and Bennett (2022) found that non-offending caregivers reported significantly higher levels of parenting stress compared with normative samples. In a qualitative study, Fong et al. (2020) identified four major domains of caregiver distress: (1) concerns regarding their child’s safety, wellbeing, and future; (2) negative beliefs about their own parenting competence and protection; (3) family conflict, blame, and strain following the abuse discovery; and (4) reactivation of caregivers’ own histories of maltreatment. Cyr et al. (2018) followed non-offending parents for 12–18 months after their child’s CSA disclosure and found that many continued to report significant psychological distress and health problems, particularly mothers, highlighting the enduring nature of caregiver burden following CSA.