Beaten and Broken

547 Words2 Pages
Clare was seven years old when her brother, who was ten, started sexually and physically abusing her. It all started when her parents got a divorce and her mom and dad were never home. At the time she was also introduced to cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. By the age of nine she was addicted to cigarettes, and was constantly lying about her whereabouts so she could drink and get high. Her school and social life stopped. Every single day she questioned herself, “Does this happen in all brother and sister relationships?” “Can I blame myself for feeling shame and unworthiness, or am I just looking for an excuse?” Child abuse is present all around the world, and many are too ashamed or scared to tell about the horror of what happened to them. With the destructive effects of child abuse, as well as the multiple types, numbers of victims continue to rise due to the lack of change in our society and the number of people willing to look away.
Those children that have to hide their bumps and bruises from someone hitting them are the worse of all. Physical abuse is one of the many ways to abuse a child, although it's one of the easiest to see, many don't report it. Beatings are not normally due to the hatred of the child but because of other factors such as: alcohol and drug problems, history of being abused as a child, mental illness, and high stress. The emotional and physical damage that the children endure is frightening. “More than 90% of all children abuse victims know their perpetrator, and of the 90%, 80% of them are related to the child in some way” ( ). Many try to block out the pain and memories with self harm, and substance abuse that lead deeper into issues some of which are lack of emotion, mental health issues, violent outbre...

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