What is child abuse?

When parents or other adult caregivers deliberately harm a young person, it is child abuse.  This harm can happen physically through hitting, beating, punching and slapping, or it can happen sexually when an adult or older person has sexual contact with a young person.  Neglect is another form of abuse.  Harm can also come to a younger person when the need for food, clothes, a place to live, medical care or supervision are ignored by parents or the adult caretaker of the young person.  Another form of child abuse is called emotional abuse.  Examples are an adult emotionally abuses his or her child when the parent rarely has anything good to say to the child, refuses to speak to the child for days or threatens to hurt the child.

Why does abuse happen?

Most parents love their children and want nothing but the best for them. However, anyone who has cared for children knows it is a big responsibility and a lot of work and there are times when the stress can become too much. Often, there are not any family or friends to help out. Parents who are very young and immature often do not understand their child's behaviour.

Parenting is one of the most important jobs we ever do and yet most of us are not taught how to be a parent. We do not know the various stages of child development and what we need to do when a child misbehaves. Our only experience comes from how we were raised as children. Many abusive adults were themselves mistreated as children.

When parents have financial problems, legal difficulties or a major illness in the family they sometimes take the aggression out on a child. These kind of stresses can also be caused by, or lead to, substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) which further damages the ability to be a good parent.