The Symptoms of Child Abuse and Neglect

What are the Symptoms of Child Abuse?

When you think about child abuse and neglect, you imagine a little boy or little girl with bruises on their body or a child who is poorly clothed and always hungry. But, is that all that child abuse and neglect entail?

Child abuse and neglect cover a wide variety of symptoms that many of you may not be aware of. It can be neglect, physical, emotional, or sexual. Child abuse and neglect can be defined as any harm that comes to a child including death, serious physical injuries, emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploiting a child, or failure to act to prevent any serious harm (American Psychological Association, 2019). Many children do not show signs that are obvious to teachers, peers, or family members. The worst part of child abuse is that in most cases, the abuser is someone the child knows and sometimes a trusted adult may not find out until the child says something (Nicho, 2019).

My Story

After I was sexually abused as a little girl, I waited 4 years before I could get myself to finally tell my parents. When I finally built the courage to say something, I came to the realization that something bad had actually happened to me, but I was finally able to start coping with what had happened. Let me provide you with some background to my story:

I was 5 years old when I was first sexually assaulted by my cousin. I didn’t understand what was happening to me as he wanted to play the game called “Acupuncture.” I wasn't sure what that meant, but I knew I didn’t want to play. I was scared and at that age, you don’t really know what's actually going on. I just knew I didn’t like it. It wasn’t until I turned 9 that I finally told my parents. I was having too many nightmares where I would wake up crying. At school, people would accidentally touch me walking by and I was triggered. I would start having panic attacks. I didn't want to tell my parents because I truly felt like something was wrong with me, but I knew I had to. I was so humiliated by what had happened to me. I felt embarrassed and ashamed even though it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know what child abuse was and I didn’t know it was going to cause me to change my perspective on the world for a very long time.

As we begin to list off the symptoms of child abuse and neglect, consider if any of these symptoms describes what has happened to you or someone close to you. 

What are the forms of Child Abuse? (Penn State Extension, 2016)

Physical - non-accidental injuries to the body, severe

Emotional - anything that affects a child’s emotional development over a period of time. Example: making a child fear, belittling, threatening, or humiliating

Sexual - to engage in sexual activity with a child or exploiting them in a sexual manner Neglect- not providing a child’s basic needs or protecting them from serious harm or danger.

Signs of Physical abuse (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 2019)

· Suspicious burns, marks or bruises

· Regressive behavior for age

· Destroys or injures objects and/or pets (Stanford Medicine, 2019)

· Injuries that don’t match the given explanation

· Bite marks

· Fractured and/or broken bones

· Effects of poisoning such as vomiting, seizures or drowsiness

Signs of Emotional abuse (NSPCC, 2019)

· Extreme behaviors and aggressive

· Afraid of adults or parents

· Wants to be alone

· Fear, anxiety, clinging

· Eating disorders

· Lack of self-confidence

· Self-esteem issues

· Child has a difficult time making relationships 

· Little to no friends

Signs of Sexual abuse (NSPCC, 2019)

· Afraid of adults or parents

· Avoids physical contact

· Unusual sexual behaviors

· Infants excessive crying or developmental delays

· Avoiding being alone with or frightened of people or a person they know.

· Language or sexual behaviour you wouldn't expect them to know.

· Having nightmares or bed-wetting.

· Alcohol or drug misuse.

· Self-harm.

· Changes in eating habits or developing an eating problem.

· Bruises.

· Bleeding, discharge, pains or soreness in their genital or anal area.

· Sexually transmitted infections.

Signs of Neglect (NSPCC, 2019)

· Poor smell, raggy clothes, looks unbathed

· Child who is often hungry or tired

· being smelly or dirty

· being hungry or not given money for food

· having unwashed clothes

· having the wrong clothing, such as no warm clothes in winter

· having frequent and untreated nappy rash in infants.

· living in an unsuitable home environment, such as having no heating

· being left alone for a long time

The symptoms of child abuse that are listed above are a few of the many symptoms we need to watch out for in children in order to get them help quickly. It was not until I was older that I realized most of these symptoms described my experiences. I remember waking up at 9 years old, feeling afraid, alone and scared. I did not want to be near adults because I thought they would all try and hurt me. I avoided all physical contact and at that time I knew I couldn't trust anyone as much as I really wanted to. I craved to be loved and wanted in a non-sexual way, just as any other little girl would. I just thought that I was never going to be worthy of someone loving me without bad intentions. Abuse can ruin the lives of children forever if they do not get the help they need. I still, to this day, wish I would have gotten help earlier.  If any of the symptoms above describes anything that you have been through or anyone you know is going through, it is important that we, as victims of abuse, speak out and get the help we deserve. Just know you are not alone.

Our Findings

As we were doing our research, we found neglect to be the highest form of abuse in the United States. The statistics of child abuse and neglect have been increasing over the years. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services In (2010), neglect among children under the age of 18 years old was 78.3%. 

These statistics were astounding to see. We like to think we are being born into good families that want us. Parents that will watch us grow up, go to all our games or dance recitals, and read us bedtime stories. But the truth is, many of us were not that lucky.

Back in 2003, another study was done that found that 906,000 children had been through some type of abuse and neglect in their childhood (Block, R. W., & Palusci, V. J., 2016). Almost a million children are being affected by abuse and neglect. So many of us are suffering every day of our lives and will continue to suffer in adulthood if we believe that we are alone, and no one understands us. It is important to get professional help or to simply speak to a trusted adult who will listen, understand, and comfort you.

If there is one thing, we want to leave you with in this lesson, it is to be aware of the symptoms of child abuse and neglect so that you can recognize that you have been abused and/or neglected in your life. We encourage you to get the help you need and the help you deserve. Begin to be aware of the people around you who may also be suffering from abuse or neglect.

Take Action: Please take the time to watch this overview of the video below! I have listed the first 5 questions from the video to get you thinking about your childhood. The purpose of this video is for those who question whether they were abused and/or neglected in their childhood or if they are currently being abused and neglected now. By answering the questions, although it may be scary, it is good to know if you are being abused or have been abused in some way so that you can begin the steps to resilience. The video will go over 30 questions total, then he will give you instructions to add up all the yeses from your answers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBpF8sWycQQ

1. Growing up, one or both of my parents were rageful, volatile, dominating, depressed, unavailable or neurotic.

• Yes___

• No___

• Maybe___

2. Growing up, one or both of my parents were greatly dissatisfied/negative with each other.

• Yes___

• No___

• Maybe___

3. Growing up, the adult’s needs and feelings came first.

• Yes___

• No___

• Maybe___

4. Growing up, things were not talked about. (Emotions, situations, elephants in the room).

• Yes___

• No___

• Maybe___

5. Rejection puts me in a very bad place

• Yes___

• No___

• Maybe___

Now that you have asked yourself these questions from the video, for the next lesson begin to think about how you’ve come to understand what has happened to you. The next few lessons will cover coping strategies, where to ask for help and how it affects adulthood.