The movie’s opening scene begins with Section 46 of the Children’s Act, which involves the removal of a child who is likely to be in significant danger—a safeguarding issue—with the assistance of law enforcement. The main character, Dalva, is distressed as the police arrest her father. We later understand the gravity of her father’s actions, which involved sexually abusing her for many years. This revelation occurs in the middle of the film, as 12-year-old Dalva struggles to understand why her father was taken and why she was placed in a care home with other children and teenagers. We see her youth worker, Jayden, who works closely with her throughout the movie and guides her into the care home.
In one of the scenes, we see Dalva get dressed, and her style of clothing is very mature for her age; this is a critical issue that one of the youth workers at the centre addresses. The youth workers point out that the revealing top Dalva is wearing is inappropriate for a school day, so one of her peers, Saima, gives her a jumper to cover it. This movie explores the effects of abuse on Dalva, not only on the developmental stage of her childhood but also on what love looks like to her. This is a common theme throughout the movie; because of her abuse by her father, it is apparent that the sexual abuse has given her an identity crisis, and her perception is that of a woman, even though she is a 12-year-old girl. Throughout the movie, we understand why her behaviour and dress sense are those of a mature woman; Jayden, the youth worker, takes her shopping for ‘normal clothing’ for someone her age, and Dalva reveals that she has never shopped for clothing before.
An essential part of the movie is the revelation that Dalva’s father had kidnapped her from her mother, who she initially believed left them when she was a young baby; this is called parental kidnapping. Parental kidnapping is a common act in disputes over custody between parents. ‘Reunite, the organisation working with such situations’, has estimated up to 1,000 children are abducted away from the UK each year (Payne, 1995). The care home gets in touch with her mother once Dalva arrives. They tell Dalva about meeting her mother, but she refuses and only wants to see her father instead. Jayden finally allows this interaction to occur, but he is present during the visit. Dalva makes sure to wear make-up and dress revealingly; once her father enters the room, he makes it imperative not to look at her in shame. The father reveals that he had to shave to see her, and she clarifies that she tried with her appearance, too. Then, Dalva tells her father that she doesn’t believe what the youth workers and social workers are saying about her being abused by him. In this turning point of the movie, the father reveals that he was abusive toward her and that they are all correct.
Once she is ready, she meets her mother. In the morning, she wakes up to find she has wet the bed and looks at her roommate, Samia, who takes the sheets and washes them for her. Bedwetting is an example of a tangible sign of a child’s sense of inner chaos (Jones & Parkinson, 1995). This was likely due to her meeting her mother for the first time and realizing what she would think of everything her father had done to her. Upon meeting her mother, her mother shows compassion and empathy and explains that the father had kidnapped her. She wants to seek full guardianship of Dalva and exclaims she had looked for her for many years. During the film, you see a point where Dalva gazes at her mother and realizes that her hair color is identical to hers; only hers was dyed at her father’s request.
Her father’s controlling and abusive behavior has blurred Dalva’s identity, like her clothing style and behavior, which is vital at this stage of her age; for fathers, incest becomes a means of projecting the hostility felt toward their mothers, whom they perceive as having abandoned them as children and for fulfilling through their daughters (Lustig et al., 1966, cited in Conte & Shore, 1982).
At one point in the film, Dalva finds comfort in Jayden, the in-house youth worker, and reveals to him that she is scared to be alone after innocently tucking her into bed. This causes Dalva to act inappropriately and hug him. I found this scene to be a great representation of how touch in a professional manner can be misconstrued. ‘Sexually abused children may consequently lose a voice or misconstrue touch, or manifest it inappropriately, placing themselves in great danger of re-abuse (Green, 2017).
In conclusion, this film is a great representation of the aftermath of a child’s suffering from abuse. The movie’s title, ‘Love According to Dalva’, truly explores her views on what love means to her, which were shaped by her father’s perspective. However, we start to see her perspective on love and her ‘coming of age’ as she explores and reclaims the rightful childhood she lost. This is shown toward the end when her mother asks about her future, and Dalva reveals that she has never thought about her future. This has affected her developmental stage, as addressed by Super (1957, cited in Maree, 2021), regarding the issue of identity formation and the critical role it plays in early childhood development in young children and adolescents during the ‘exploratory stage of life’ of their future.
References
Conte, J. R., & Shore, D. A. (1982). Social work and child sexual abuse. Psychology Press.
Green, L. (2017). The trouble with touch? New insights and observations on touch for social work and social care. British Journal of Social Work, 47(3), 773–792. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw071
Jones, E., & Parkinson, P. (1995). Child sexual abuse, access and the wishes of children. International Journal of Law, Policy, and the Family, 9(1), 54–85. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/9.1.54
Maree, J. G. (2021). The psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson: Critical overview. Early Child Development & Care, 191(7–8), 1107–1121. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1845163
Payne, M. (1995). Understanding ‘going missing’: Issues for social work and social services. British Journal of Social Work, 25(3), 333–348.