Child Abuse

Child abuse is the physical or psychological maltreatment of a child, often synonymous with the term child maltreatment or the term child abuse and neglect. Some definitions also include the abuse of children by other children or by themselves. However, in the United States, abuse of a child by another child is not reportable as child abuse, except to the extent that it can be reported as improper supervision by the abused child's parents.

The U.S. National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children freed for adoption had symptoms of attachment disorder. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants exhibited attachment disorder symptoms.

Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect and physical abuse are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems. These children are likely to develop reactive attachment disorder. These children may be described as experiencing trauma-attachment problems. The trauma experienced is the result of abuse or neglect, inflicted by a primary caregiver, which disrupts the normal development of secure attachment. Such children are at risk of developing a disorganized attachment. Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms, as well as anxiety,depressive, and acting-out symptoms.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• Prevent Child Abuse America
• Childabuse.com
• Childhelp.org

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Child Abuse

• i want to cry Wed, November 21, 2007 - [view]
  my Father called today hearing his voice brout bak memorys and i just went my room and started crying out of the blue i dont want anyone to see me crying though so i tryed to stop but it  made it worse i was alone and i was scared that ge woud find us again i cried until i exhusted myself which wasnt long and fell asleep