A child's physical appearance could also be a give away of physical abuse. The most common places that bruises will appear when a child is being abused are behind their ears, inside the crease of their forearm, the tops of their arms, the crease at the back of their leg, on their back and the back of their head. These are all common places that a child may get punched or slapped. There could also be unusual circular burns which would indicate the child is being subjected to cigarette burns.
Some people say that there is no reason for anybody to physically abuse a child, however there are explanations as to why they do it. If a parent has learning difficulties and they are not aware of how to raise a child, when they get stressed it could be their answer to hit the child out of anger. Also if the child's parent have grown up and they have been physically abused, they may not know any other way so they may not know that it is wrong to abuse the child, they may not know that what they are doing is even abuse.
Emotional abuse is when an adult undermines a child’s confidence and sense of self-worth, an example of this would be ignoring them, always giving them negative comments about the way they look or the way they speak, it could also be constantly threatening a child or always humiliating them.
When a child is suffering from emotional abuse the child could become withdrawn because they could feel that what they do say is the wrong thing to say because when they have said stuff in the past they have been put down or laughed at. They could have a low self-esteem or could have a lack of confidence when speaking because they are scared to say anything because they have had negative comments about anything that they have said in the past. It could also be noticeable that the child is stammering when they are in conversation because they are not sure whether what they are saying is the right thing to say or not.
Reasons for emotional abuse could be that the parents are stressed and may not realize that they are putting the child down and lowering their self-esteem. It could also be due to a parent not understanding what emotional abuse is and like to use sarcasm a lot but may not understand that a child may not understand what sarcasm is and this could lower the confidence because they think that the parent is constantly making fun of them.
Sexual abuse is when a child is being used sexually by and adult or by a young person and when a person makes a child look at pornographic magazines or films that is classed as sexual abuse as well because that adult it poisoning the child's mind to think that what they are looking at is acceptable for their age. Sexual abuse is when a child or a young person is pressurised, forced or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity with and adult. This can be anything from kissing and touching to having actual sexual intercourse or oral sex.
There could be many effects that sexual abuse could have on a child, physically the child could have abdominal pain and suffer from stomach ache's more often, they could have back pain and pain when passing urine, they could suffer from unexplained bed wetting and soiling. There could also be itchiness in the genital area. There could be bruising in unusual places like on their bum or genital area's. The child could be more aware of sexual activities than a child their age should know about and become obsessed because they think they are being good by being involved in sexual activities. The child could also act out different activities that they have been involved in because they may not be aware that what has happened to them is wrong and they don't know any other way.
The reasons for sexual abuse are that the parent or person this is sexually abusing the child may have been through the same experiences when they where a child and grew up without telling anybody, so they may not feel as if what they are doing is wrong. It could also be due to a mental illness that the person is suffering from and that they are unaware that it shouldn't be done to children.
Neglect is failing to meet a child's basic needs from a parent or a carer, this can be through love, safety, food and warmth in a way that affects a child's health, their development and also their safety. When a child is being neglected, harm is not always intentional, however it could be a result, an example of this would be not feeding the child properly and them becoming malnourished. In some cases though, a child is intentionally deprived, an example of this would be a mother buying cigarettes instead of food for her child.
Neglecting a child could lead to a lot of different effects. It could be that the child is hungry and eats their meals and more at lunch times. It could be that the child looks dirty and and they smell because their hygiene isn't being controlled by their parents or carers. It could also be noticed by the child always being tired or turning up to school late everyday. If a child is underweight that can usually be a sign of a child not being fed properly and also their clothes not fitting properly could also be a sign of neglect.
A child could be being neglected because a their parent is a young mum and is unaware of how to look after their child. It could be due to the parent wanting to spend their money on other things like cigarettes or alcohol. It could also be because the parent just hasn't got an idea on how to look after their child, so the child's needs are not being met which could lead to the child under achieving in school or it could lead to the child becoming seriously ill.
