Child Abuse and Neglect

Child abuse is defined by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services as being, "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"; or "An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."(Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect 2015). Child abuse is a growing social problem which results in the death of about two thousand children annually. In just one day five children will die from abuse or neglect. In fact every thirteen seconds another child is abused in the United States. The fact that so many children are being abused and may be killed by this abuse is significant, but it is also important to realize that there are detrimental effects that the abuse may have on a child ten or twelve years later. The abuse that a child sustains may affect people in very different ways, but child abuse has never and will never have a positive effect on a child later in life.

A child that goes untreated for having been abused has an increased likelihood of arrest for a violent crime than that of the general population by thirty eight percent.

Children that have been abused have been found to have a greater chance of delinquency and a life of crime. Victims of child abuse have been proven to be more at-risk than people of the general population for negative personal and social events later in life. Since there are so many negative effects that child abuse has on people later in life, there have to be ways for people to speak about their problems and have other people's advice who have experienced similar abuse in their life.

One way in which people may feel comfortable speaking of their past abuse is on-line on the World Wide Web. They can write about their experiences and get feedback from people with similar problems. People tell their personal stories of the abuse that they sustained as children and the negative effects that it has had on their life as adults. Many of the stories speak of ways in which some sort of child abuse, such as sexual abuse, has affected their lives as adults in their relationships with people of the opposite sex. Anyone can get on-line and tell their life story of abuse whether it be sexual, physical, or mental.