As a mother of an 11-year-old, an aunt to multiple nieces and nephews and a godmother to 2 additional children I can honestly say that children hold a very special place in my heart. Having raised a child from birth I honestly can’t understand why anyone would mistreat an innocent child, especially parents or adults period. It’s obvious that an adult has control and the physical upper hand when it comes to children, so for anyone to take advantage of that is disgusting and beyond comprehension. This social justice topic is important to me, because I’m a mother, I was once a child and I know what mistreatment feels like and I would never put that evil on another child no matter what.

I believe this is a topic that needs to keep being talked about and exposed. With everything that’s going on in the world today, it’s easy to forget about a ground of humans that can’t stand up for themselves or speak out against their abusers in their youth. If you have never been abused or mistreated as a child, this topic may not be at the top of your social injustice list, but for those of us that have experienced it – it’s a part of your life that you never forget. According to the CDC, it’s predicted that 1 in 7 children in the US has experienced child abuse and/or neglect in the past year ^[1].

I plan on sharing a few personal stories of what I experienced as well as some stories of family and friends that have had to endure child maltreatment. Now I recognize that child maltreatment looks differently and everyone’s story isn’t the same; but I feel that survivor stories are imperative for the child that is currently dealing with maltreatment and abuse so they know that things can get better. This paper will certainly discuss multiple aspects of child abuse and maltreatment. My hope is that this discussion will continue to gain traction, exposure, and more laws will be created to protect our children – because they’re not objects or pets, they are precious humans that depend on adults to protect and love them, not abuse them.

 

[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Child Abuse & Neglect: Fast Facts.” Accessed July 31, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/fastfact.html

My father was a nice man and you could tell that he loved his family, and while he wasn’t a mean man all the time, he had an extremely bad temper mixed with severe anger problems. As a child, I never really knew how my actions would make him feel so I often walked on eggshells, because I never knew how he’d react. I can recall one specific time when I had gone swimming with a friend of mine, and I don’t think I told him where I was going. Now this was before parents sent their children with phones, so he didn’t have any way to get in contact with me.

When my friend’s mom brought me home, I remember my mom was so relieved to see me, because she was so worried. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t pissed and you could tell because he was redder than red. He yelled at me and told me to go to my room, so I did as he demanded. Now I understand that he was angry and was probably worried, but I didn’t fully understand how upset he was until he came into my room. All I can remember was him yelling me and telling me how stupid I was and how lucky I was that I was girl otherwise he would’ve beat me like I was a boy. I was crying hysterically and all the sudden he punched me in my face. He hit me so hard that I fell backwards and hit the back of my head on my dresser. I remember screaming for my mom and as she came rushing in the room, to my aid, my dad just left the room unmoved by what he had done. Later we discovered that I had a huge bruise/scare on my face, and I was bleeding from this huge cut on my head.

This was only one of many instances where my father was physically abusive and I vowed that when I became a parent, I would NEVER put my child(ren) through such demining and inhumane treatment. Along with his occasional physical abuse, my father was also extremely verbally abusive. While all these experiences were traumatic at the time, I’ve been able to grow beyond it and I’ve become a more compassionate and loving parent because of it, and I refuse to sit back and let anything that happen to my son, my future children or any other child – regardless if they’re my child or not.