Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) Continues to Gain Global Recognition
Legitimizing the painful, lived reality of Family Scapegoating Abuse through research, resources, and education.
Welcome to all of our new subscribers! Your subscription, whether free or paid, is both valued and appreciated. This is a public post and you’re free to share it with others. Doing so is a tangible way to support me in my mission to bring social attention and recognition to the painful reality of Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) and its impact on child victims and adult child survivors through this Substack publication.
Announcing 2nd Peer-Reviewed Study on FSA
Recently I shared with readers here that the first peer-reviewed quantitative research study on the phenomenon I named Family Scapegoating Abuse (FSA) had been completed. I’m pleased to share that my co-author on this study, Dr. Dr Balapala Kartheek (MD/Psych and Research Fellow at the copperbelt University of Zambia ), invited me to participate in a second peer-reviewed quantitative research study, this time on the scapegoating of women with Postpartum depression (PPD).
Peer-reviewed studies such as those I am co-authoring with Dr. Kartheek help to legitimize FSA within clinical and academic settings. To learn more about why this will ultimately benefit adult survivors affected by this form of abuse, read my post here.
Dutch Translation of Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed
A few months ago I shared here that I was in negotiations for the worldwide rights to have my introductory book on FSA, Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed, translated into Dutch. Foreign rights contracts and negotiations are invariably time consuming and tedious but the deal was finally sealed this week and my book should be out in Dutch sometime next year through a Dutch division of Simon & Schuster (Uitgeverij AnkhHermes, part of VBK|Media B.V.) I’ll announce it here when it is released. I have no say at all in the cover design, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
English Audiobook Version of Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed
As mentioned in an earlier post, the English Audiobook version of Rejected, Shamed, and Blame will also be coming out next year via Tantor Media. I’ve been wanting to release an audiobook of my introductory book on FSA for years, and am excited that it will be through Tantor, as they are known for their high quality productions (I also have narrator approval, which was very important to me). I’ll announce it here on my Substack once the audiobook is available. Tantor asked me to share the Publishers Marketplace Deal Report (above) so I am honoring that request.
FSA Recovery Quick-Start Guide (New Worksheet Added)
I’ve created a publicly accessible online guide designed to lay the foundation for FSA Recovery that I alerted you to last week. For those of you who have already accessed it, I created a new Writing Prompt Worksheet where the Self-Reflection Journal Prompts used to be on page 10. I’m including the link to the new worksheet here as well for easy access and hope that you’ll take some time to check it out. These are prompts will also be used in our weekly Wednesday Writers Group in Chat.
Access the new FSA Writer Prompts
Or use this short link here to access the entire Recovery Guide: https://bit.ly/3OCs7nw
Resources and Reminders
Resource: Scapegoating and Estate / Inheritance Issues
One of our community members alerted me to this article written by attorneys who specialize in helping people who are wrongfully disinherited, Contested Wills In BC-Black Sheep and Scapegoats. Having rightful inheritances denied figured prominently in my original research on FSA, and I was pleased to see that some attorneys are now speaking to this particular ‘scapegoating injustice’. You can read the article here: https://disinherited.com/family-estrangement/black-sheep-and-scapegoats-in-dysfunctional-families/
Free Speech Protection Act (Anti-SLAPP Act)
I wanted everyone in our Writers Group (and anyone else who is considering publishing their memoirs or narrative nonfiction) to be aware of this Act being put forth by three U.S. representatives that is designed to protect authors and publishers from frivolous 'SLAPP' suits, which are meant to force authors / publishers to unpublish supposedly "defamatory" books to avoid a lengthy, expensive lawsuit.
This article is from my Authors Guild but it is free to read and you should be able to access it after 'X-ing out the Newsletter offer invitation pop-up. Let's hope this Act gets passed. Consider writing your local and state-wide representatives saying the same, if you are so inclined and live in the U.S. Access article here: https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-applauds-introduction-of-free-speech-protection-act/
Connecting With Community in Chat
If you’re a new paid subscriber to my Substack, our main conversations occur in our private Chat space. I arrange these by topic. When you enter our Chat space, you need to scroll UP to see all previous threads. This is the link to our Chat space, which you may want to bookmark for easy access (or you can try clicking on ‘Join Chat’, below, which or may not work if you are using the mobile app): https://substack.com/chat/2666152
You can also access Chat from the mobile app by clicking on the double comment icons at the bottom right of your phone screen, or visit my Substack from a browser at https://familyscapegoathealing.substack.com and click on ‘Chat’ in the Navigation menu at the top of the site.
Site Directory (Links to Paid and Free Subscriber Features)
I’ve updated our Site Directory and it is important that you are familiar with it, especially if you are a paid subscriber. That is because all of our paid (and free) subscriber features are listed in the Site Directory, with live links for easy access. This is also where you can access our Ask the Community feature, where you can leave your questions for the community in the comments that I then publish on your behalf in our private Chat space for member feedback. If you haven’t checked out the Site Directory yet, you can do so here (if you’re on the mobile app and the below link doesn’t work, visit https://familyscapegoathealing.substack.com/p/explore-our-community using your browser).
That’s it for this week. I have over sixty new article ideas (some inspired by our community or from community topic requests) so it will be a busy year of writing for me in 2025 - looking forward to it!