by Monique Mosley

Created on: May 27, 2008

There is no one way to identify an abused child.Various articles and books have been written on the subject. Concerned psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, law enforcement, teachers, family and friends have all pondered the same question when it comes to helping children that are seeming abused- "Is this a sign that this child is being abused?".
Whether it is the child that comes to school every day hungry, the one that has a slight body odor, the one that lives in the house with the unstable family that always looks sad, the one that is terrified of going home to their parents, the one that always seems to have some new mysterious injury every time you see them, the one that cries and feels like they are a failure for a simple mistake or the child that no matter what is said or he one that never feels that they are good enough. There is no one, clear, indication that a child is being abused. Why some might ask? Because there are so many types of abuse. Often times people think physical marks on children are the only evidence that they are being abused, when most times that is only one type of abuse that some children face regularly.

There is emotional abuse, which is basically the withholding of basic emotional needs from a child like love, affection, empathy, and withholds any validation the child may be seeking from them, like their approval or praise. There is mental abuse, which is very close to emotional abuse but often times involves verbally degrading a child to the point that their mental state is affected. Children facing mental abuse often times suffer from chronic anxiety, have anger management issues and severe self-esteem issues. There is also neglect, which is doing nothing to help the child be taken care of. That child is like a little adult, all the responsibilities of an adult with the know-how of a child.
So as you see, there are many types of abuse that children of today are facing.Many times an abused child is not just experiencing one type of abuse and therefore can have a few, very different indicators of abuse, but it might not be clear to anyone just what the cause is. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening and when to children. Especially when we do not want to judge parents that seem to be trying to raise their children in the best way they can. A lot of the time you feel badly about accusing an adult of abusing a child because it can cause you to closer examine the way you raise your own children. It can make you wonder how difficult it would be to have your habits and ways of raising your child looked at through a magnifying glass by others. But the bottom line is that you always have to think about what is in the best interest of the child, no matter what actions have to take place.
A lot of the time it is almost like you have to play detective and add up all the tiny clues given. Sometimes you will solve the case, while others will go unsolved. Because child abuse and the indicators of it have never been a black and white issue, the more progress we make in these gray areas, the more children will be saved from this terrible epidemic.

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