Former Child Sexual Abuse Victim Raises Awareness Through Music – Kingston | The Canadian News

WARNING: This story contains details that readers may find disturbing. Discretion Advised.

A survivor of a disturbing cycle of child sexual abuse at the hands of foster parents in Prince Edward County is now putting her pain into her music as an adult.

Mandolynne Knott released her single Scream under his YouTube channel, Mandolynne.

The song contains lyrics about the sexual assault, child grooming, and abuse she faced at the hands of the foster care system in a small village in Prince Edward County when she was 15 years old.

Knott, who has been writing songs since he could pick up a pen, found the urge to go to music school at the age of 24 and then began his solo journey in 2019.

“To be honest, I had never planned to release it. It was one of those songs where I worked on myself to overcome some challenging feelings to navigate that. “

Just over a year ago, Knott says he realized that releasing the song would be important to awareness and serve as “representation for other survivors of child sexual abuse.”

“The man says drop your pants and open your mouth…. The mind is a terrible place, but I can’t leave. “ she sings over a sinister instrumental.

Knott says her music helps her regain her identity, but her path to becoming an artist was not easy. It comes after many years of therapy and fighting internal battles.

“I wanted to raise awareness about this epidemic that is happening within the child welfare system,” Knott said.

“Unfortunately, the public is not aware. And I think when creating this video, I just wanted to express how it feels to be silenced, abused, and groomed. May your experience be minimized and neglected. I wanted other people who have experienced these things to know that they are not alone. “

Knott told Global News in 2019 that some of the abuse at the hands of her adoptive parents, located outside of Bloomfield, Ontario, included forcing her and the other foster children to look at pornography and forcing her to perform sexual acts while she was in the shower.

“When I came forward as a survivor, I felt it was an isolated incident. I felt like my home was the only home this was happening in, only to find out that this was happening everywhere, ”Knott said.

In 2011, Knott’s adoptive parents, Janet and Joe Holm, were sentenced to a total of seven years in prison after being convicted of charges stemming from the sexual abuse of five children they raised in their home.

Then, in April 2021, former Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society CEO Bill Sweet pleaded guilty to one count of failing to care for and support a child on behalf of the now-defunct society of help Childs.

The other 20 criminal charges brought against him were dropped and Sweet did not face jail time, but was sentenced to community service.

“I sat in the courtroom and listened to the survivors talk about their experiences within the foster care system,” Knott said of Sweet’s sentencing. “I heard the list of reports and these are from community members, from young people themselves, even from my own experience. The workers came to my house, we discussed things.

“Receiving community service for an organization of your choice is absolutely disgraceful. I don’t know how he sleeps at night. “

Knott says he has a performance in Toronto next week and plans to tour next year.

Scream it will also be part of a movie titled Eyes for you by director Chelsy Althea Ubaldo, who also experienced sexual violence.

The film will premiere at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health’s Rendezvous with Madness festival next year.

Knott hopes that by sharing life’s most painful experiences, she can help prevent others from facing the same fate, or at least allow them to join her on her journey to healing.