Physical abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment, neglect, sexual abuse  

Abuse is a term which covers a wide range of behaviours and actions and for these purposes has been divided into six main areas: physical abuse, neglect, abandonment emotional abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Within each type there is a broad spectrum of severity.

Physical abuse: Injury intentionally caused by another person, in most cases a person with responsibility for care.

Neglect: Failure to meet someone’s needs for food, warmth, protection and care.

Abandonment: Intentional failure to care for someone or actual physical leaving without intent to return (usually leaving someone unable to care for themselves) or failure to provide protection from other forms of abuse.

Emotional Abuse: Persistent emotional ill treatment or rejection that severely affects the emotional and behavioural development of the abused person.

Sexual Abuse: Involving someone in sexual activities to meet another person’s demands.  It can involve direct physical contact or activities where no physical contact is made, such as forcing someone to watch a sexual act.

Domestic Violence: Physical, psychological, verbal, sexual or financial violence that takes place within intimate or family relationships and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. Includes the suffering experienced by children when witnessing the ill-treatment of another person.

 

The Numbers:

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men in United States experience domestic violence at some point in their lives.¹
• 1 in 3 women worldwide experience some form of abuse, primarily beating or sexual violence, at some point in their lives. ²
• 72% of sexually abused children did not tell anyone about the abuse at the time. 27% told someone later. 31% still had not told anyone about their experience(s) by early adulthood. ³
• More than one third of all rapes recorded by the UK police are committed against children under 16 years old.
 ⁴

How to spot if a child may be being abused:
•    Frequently dirty, hungry or inadequately dressed when adequate resources are available.
•    Left in unsafe situations or without medical attention.
•    Frequently insulted, sworn at or humiliated.
•    Seems afraid of parents or caregivers.
•    Unexplained bruises or injuries.
•    Displays sexual behaviour inappropriate for their age.
•    Living in a home where there is domestic violence.
•    Living with parents or caregivers involved in drug or alcohol abuse.

This list is not conclusive or complete: if anything causes you to think someone is being abused, SPEAK OUT.

Why bother?
The Bible calls us to ‘be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you’ (Ephesians 4:32).

According to a United States poll, 3 out of 4 people personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence: God does not turn away from abuse, and neither should we.

Abuse is always wrong and it is never the abused person's fault.

References:

^{1.  CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey 2005}

^{2. US National Domestic Violence Hotline}

^{3. NSPCC}

^{4. UK Home Office}