Yapaka is a mistreatment prevention program initiated by the Ministry of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation of Belgium set up in 1998. It offers various tools including the collection “Downtime/Readings” and this latest opus “Maltreatment and parental hatred, caring for the child in the parent” downloadable for free.
Parental love is the foundation of parent-child relationships. An attachment is formed from the parent’s attention and concern for the child. But sometimes, the psychological reality is more complex and domestic violence is the product of hatred.
The child is then mistreated not for who he is but for what he represents: the parent’s hatred for himself, for the child he was. Because caring for a child when you yourself were hurt or abused as a child is challenging.
The author analyzes the transgenerational dimension at work through the different types of mistreatment. This text equips professionals to understand the imprint and influence of hatred. Taking this dimension into account, he invites us to put in place strategies to protect children and care for parents. Because these two paths are inseparable to change abusive family ties.
Jean Luc Viaux is a doctor of psychology, honorary university professor and president of the Les Nids foundation (child protection). He has published numerous articles on child hearing, examination of child victims and abuse. Since The Child and the Couple in Crisis, 2002, which shows the issues of parental separations, he has devoted his books to violence against children: L’amour infanticide, 2014; Hate of the child, 2020; Incest, clinic of a crime against humanization, 2022.
Abuse and parental hatred, caring for the child within the parent, Jean-Luc Viaux, Edition Yakapa, n° 158, February 2026
