Child Abuse

Child Abuse is defined as: "Harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare that occurs through nonaccidental physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or maltreatment, by a parent, a legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child's health or welfare, or by a teacher."

There are many forms of child abuse and the four most common main types are listed as:
1.physical abuse
2.sexual abuse
3.emotional abuse
4.neglect (Almost 60% of child abuse cases involve neglect)
Child abuse is a major issue in the book Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher. Many of the characters share their stories of abuse and open up about it.

One of the truths of child abuse is that if you are abused as a child, it will damage you psychologically for the rest of your life. The effects of being neglected or hurt by a parent will change how you make decisions later on in life, including how you treat your own children. A website talking about how Child Abuse affects society states "People who were abused as children are much more likely to end up mimicking that abusive behavior with their own children. The problems associated with child abuse will only continue and likely grow larger without active attempts to eliminate the problem." Another way that child abuse affects society is through money and funds dedicated to helping with the problem. A group (Prevent Child Abuse America) tried to figure out the amount of money used in trying to prevent child abuse in 2001. Their total came to more than 24.3 billion dollars.

Sometimes, there is not a way of getting help. A national study/survey that was published in 1995 states that "Another important finding was that the percentages of maltreated children who receive CPS investigation have decreased significantly since the NIS-2. The percentage of children receiving investigation among those who met the Harm Standard dropped from 44 percent to 28 percent, while the percentage of CPS investigation of children who met the Endangerment Standard fell from 51 percent to 33 percent." This means that the amount of child abuse cases that are reported and actually receive help has significantly declined. It also means that there are less children that would qualify for being "endangered".

Today, there are many places to go for help with abuse. One of these places is the Tennyson Center for Children. On their website they share their message and have full biographies of the children they've helped. The kids go in after being abused for so long, and "don't know how to be just kids". The Tennyson's objective is to put them through therapy and place them in a safe enviroment where they can grow into a well rounded child.