I know this is an unpopular interpretation, but I cannot see the circus family as a healthy family.
Do note that I don’t consider anything that has been “confirmed” outside of the game as canon. If it’s not in the source material, it’s not canon, so I don’t care for word of god or AMAs.
None of the characters have healthy coping mechanisms to deal with what happened with Columbina or their experiences with their abuser, and their current situation: having to hide away from humans and avoiding the law for the kidnappings and murders (and slavery because that’s what they’re doing to the fools) doesn’t really facilitate things for maintaining a healthy environment, not to mention the fact they keep reliving these memories over and over again in the form of the stories they tell the public, which also isn’t healthy.
And analyzing their situation, I believe this would be 100% a scenario in which the victim ends up becoming a perpetrator.
They need to maintain their safety and freedom above all, so paranoia and severe trust issues are to be expected, especially from Jester, who has taken charge of the circus since the incident and would have the most amount of pressure on their shoulders. This means there is NO scenario in which MC isn’t seen as an active threat to their lives. In fact, any kind of interaction with humans outside of the circus would be seen as a security hazard, especially for those more impulsive characters (cough harlequin cough).
We know the circus members have to follow certain rules that are very restrictive — I would argue even long-term harmful for them — and I believe if they want to maintain their safety, keeping distance from humans would be the top priority.
Put all these circumstances together and you have an environment that is extremely controlling and oppressive. And while it might be for their safety, it’s still not a healthy environment to live in, and as technology evolves and finding people becomes easier, they would only get even more restrictive to the detriment of the characters’ mental health.
While they are monsters, their brains seem to work much like humans do, with need for love, companionship and stability, and that would include healthy living environments.
It’s very frequent when working with victims of abuse that we see some of them perpetrating what was done to them onto other people, and I can easily see the same happening here, if only with a different packaging.
The physical abuse they suffered at the hands of humans turned into psychological abuse perpetrated by people who convinced themselves they are doing what’s necessary for their own survival and become so blinded in their fear that they don’t realize the harm they are causing to each other, and to me this is a much more interesting interpretation than just “happy found family yay”.
