Health care professionals are trained in the warning signs of child abuse. For most of us, we have no idea what these signs are. If a child is not around professionals or at school it is up to us to help them if they are in need. A basic knowledge of the warning signs that a child is being abused may actually help save the child.

While it is a very hard subject to address for most of us, our fears and repulsion get the better of us, we can collectively stop child abuse by recognizing the warning signs and bringing them to the attention of those very professionals that can help.

The behavioral signs of child abuse can also show up and be present at other stressful times in a child’s life. Parent’s divorce, death of a family member, friend or pet, or even bully problems in school, indicate the same symptoms. However, regardless of the cause, it is important to get the child help.

Many signs may be present and not just any one of them. Any one sign doesn’t mean the child was abused, either. What you need to know is that if several of them are present in any child you know, it’s a good time to begin asking questions.

1. Fear of certain people.

2. fear of certain places.

A child may not want to be left alone with a baby-sitter, a certain friend or relative, other child or adult. If your child child who is usually talkative and cheery may become quiet and distant when around a certain person).

3. Nightmares, trouble sleeping, or other extreme fears without an obvious explanation.

4. Play, writing, drawings or dreams may include sexual or frightening images.

5. Seems distracted or distant, spaced out at odd times.

6. Loss of appetite, or trouble eating or swallowing or sudden changes in eating habits.

7. Sudden mood swings: rage, fear, anger, insecurity or withdrawal.

8. Leaves “clues” that seem likely to provoke a discussion about sexual issues.

9. Stomach illness all of the time with no identifiable reason.

10. An older child behaving like a younger child, such as bed-wetting or thumb sucking.

Again it’s a series of signs that means you have to open discussions with the appropriate people involved and see if it is child abuse.

Some of the best articles on child abuse, prevention of child abuse, comes from the Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute.

Now that we are into the summer, you should know reports of child abuse drop in this season. What I also want you to know is that the reports drop because kids are not around the professionals such as teachers and medical personnel that are madated to report the cases and indicators of an abused child that they see each day during the school year.

Does this affect you and your family?

Yes.

Did you know that most children who are sexually abused, are abused by a family member or close friend? Did you know that “stranger danger,” by comparison, is quite rare?

If you are an ordinary person in an ordinary family, you have the most power of anybody to save the children around you. Every time you tell your sister or your husband or your friend a fact about what causes child molestation, every time you tell them what we can do now to stop it, you build a stronger safety net for every child.

Facts are powerful. Education is the key to stopping child abuse. www.childmolestationprevention.org. Check out the Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute for yourself. Good people.

April Is National Child Abuse Awareness Month
Every 10 seconds in the United States there is a report of child abuse is made. By the time you finished that sentence another one, on average, was made again. This upsets us greatly. Its the cases that aren’t reported that bother us, too. An estimated 3 million cases of child abuse are reported every year. How many are not?

Sobering. While so many of us parents are striving to give our little ones love and affection and working to meet all their needs and more, countless children are left to wonder what they did to deserve their bruises and emotional scars. Its true, the children believe it is their fault they are abused.

Instead of looking the other way, we need to face the issue head on. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.Become aware. Become educated. and the www.cdc.gov Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the federal www.acf.dhhs.gov. Administration for Children and Families intend to increase awareness of the issue while encouraging the support of children and families in need.