Child abuse is a term used when speaking of any type of abuse against children. This is no simple topic, since there are various forms of abuse. The types of abuse are physical, sexual, mental, verbal, spiritual, and emotional. Child abuse can also mean neglect of a child. Some children suffer only one form of abuse while some suffer all forms. One cannot place a degree on abuse because abuse, in any form, is wrong and harmful to the child.

Another aspect of child abuse, which I will cover in my articles, is that of reporting to the authorities. Sometimes, adults become aware of a child being abused and question the justification in reporting the abuse; thus, the child sometimes ends up dying because no one got involved and tried to protect them. On many occasions, people fail to report suspected abuse because they think that perhaps their suspicions are wrong. The fear that the child is not being abused will sometimes outweigh the suspicion and the adult doesn’t want to interfere just in case nothing really is happening. Other times, adults are not sure if what the parent is doing to their child is justified, especially in scenarios in which the family is devoutly religious. Some people are unsure of whether or not the parent has the right to discipline their children, through the use of spanking or hitting, and will not report the abuse.

Every child that is being abused will display some warning signs to others in their lives. Everyone must be educated and become aware of the signs of abuse, in order to protect the children. This is another area I plan to touch on, in my writing.

Furthermore, I plan to write about the effects of abuse on the children. There are many long term effects, which affect children well into their adult years.

Lastly, there are various state and governmental agencies that I will write about, in the hopes of raising awareness to their services and assisting people in making the decision to report the abuse. This includes those agencies on a state level that have failed the children; thus, causing the death of several children.

I look forward to helping to raise awareness on the topic of child abuse, as well as hearing from my many readers. If you have any suggestions or comments, I encourage you to email me with them. I value the input of all of my readers.