The lived experience of parents of adolescents who have sexually offended: I am a survivor.

This study aimed to describe the lived experience of parents of adolescents who had sexually offended. The participants (n= 4) were parents and parental figures of adolescents legally adjudicated for sexual offenses and currently involved in sex offender-specific treatment. Using an ethnographic research design guided by the premises of the Trauma Outcome Process, a focus group and individual interviews were conducted with these participants. Content analysis and constant comparison yielded four main themes: the initial reaction, the relationship with the child, "dealing with it," and being a survivor. These results support the development of an individualized intervention to meet the self-identified needs of this population.