About Child Abuse

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Suffering from child abuse has often many faces. Sexual Abuse often goes hand in hand with emotional and physical abuse. It happens in an environment of domestic violence but also in Schools, after school groups and in the wider family or with friends.

The world health organisation has given a general explanation what abuse in all its forms means:

World Health Organisation

“Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.”

But how does that look like in action?

• physical: any violence towards the body of a child like beating, pinching, malnourishment ect – often the most obvious abuse
• emotional: any violence in words, swearing at a child, threatening a child, ignoring a child, making comments that makes the child feel low, often the least obvious abuse
• sexual: touching sexual parts of child, fondling, adults showing a child their sexual parts, incest, intercourse with a child, any sexual activity with a child and an adult, an older child or a more powerful child

Abuse might happen in a single incident or repeatedly. How often it happens does not really matter as to how it affects the child. Some children get traumatised by a single incident; some survive long years of suffering. Adults are often not aware how badly not really seriously meant but anyhow negative comments about a child’s appearance, performance at school, behaviour in general ect. affects a child’s psyche. Which in turn is the breeding ground for a child being easy prey for predators of any sort. Only a child full of self-esteem, who knows that it is unconditionally loved by its parents and wider family can trust the responsible adults around it and be open and tell if anything out of order happens. This in turn gives the parents and other carers the possibility to protect the child and take action against abusers of any sort.

Recourses International Child Abuse Network

                 World Health Organisation