The Child Abuse Support Center

Every person is unique, but when you have faced child abuse, or if you're facing it now, remember that you are never alone. Countless children have been in similar circumstances and have gone on to survive and thrive. The following guide is designed to help you navigate your journey with the best information and resources that helped other survivors when they faced the same challenge.   

TSC has scoured the Web to gather together links to the very best child abuse resources: articles, blogs, forums, and tools that can help you make better decisions and take action to overcome the range of physical, emotional, and other challenges that you face.  

As you’ll see, we always welcome your ideas and suggestions to make this child abuse guide even more helpful to survivors like you.  

JUST FOUND OUT

Survivors Say: Best Resources for Child Abuse

• Childabuse.com
• Prevent Child Abuse America
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Child Abuse Q&A

The Big Picture

According to U.S. child abuse statistics, over 3 million cases of child abuse are reported annually, though many more are never documented. Child abuse can be physical, emotional/psychological, or sexual.

Signs of Child Abuse

• Child Abuse America: Recognizing Child Abuse - What Parents Should Know (PDF)
• National Institutes of Health: Shaken Baby Syndrome
• National Center for PTSD: Child Sexual Abuse

Your Child Abuse

• Child Welfare Information Gateway: Types of Child Abuse
• Prevent Child Abuse America: Emotional Child Abuse (PDF)
• Prevent Child Abuse America: Sexual Abuse of Children (PDF)
• Help for Adult Victims of Child Abuse

Your World

If you are or have been a victim of abuse as a child or teen, you are bound to feel many emotions, including sadness, anger, self-hatred, depression, and more. Or perhaps you feel nothing, as if you were numb. There are many resources to help you begin to come to terms with the loss and devastation abuse has caused in your life, at a time when you are or were most vulnerable and most in need of loving care:

• Help for Adult Victis of Child Abuse: Survivors Forum
• Prevent Child Abuse America: State Chapters
• Childhelp.org National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD)
• Child Welfare Information Gateway: Adult Survivors Related Organizations List

Explaining Your Diagnosis to Friends and Family

If you're an adult and experienced the abuse as a child earlier in your life, sharing this news probably won't be easy, but it's important to let your family and friends know that you were a victim of child abuse. For many, it's part of their healing process. If you are a child or a teenager currently experiencing abuse, find an adult you trust and tell them as soon as possible.

Child Abuse Myths

Types of Treatment

Psychotherapy

In most cases, having been a victim of chilld abuse will have a psychological and emotional impact on you, and perhaps a devastating one. That's why it can help to find a psychotherapst (counselor, psychiatrist, psychologist) whom you trust to help you come to terms with this experience and move into survivorship and the full life that's waiting for you. Oftentimes, survivors of abuse don't come to psychotherapy for the abuse, but for related problems, such as anxiety, depression, emotional eating, and other issues:

• FindCounseling.com: Treatment for Child Abuse
  
• American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy: Child Abuse and Neglect
• Help for Adult Victims of Abuse: Survivor's Bill of Rights

Group Support

Medical Treatment

A physical evaluation should be made for any child who might be the victim of abuse and sexually abused children may require special medical attention. It's common for anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication to be prescribed:

ChildAbuseMD.com

Resources to Find Health-care Providers

• Mental Health America: Get Info
• PsychologyToday.com: Find a Therapist
• FindCounseling.com
  

Books Survivors Recommend

• The Body Remembers by Babette Rothschild
• Healing the Incest Wound by Cristine Courtois
• How Long Does It Hurt? by Cynthia L. Mather and Kristina E. Debye
• It Happened to Me: A Teen's Guide to Overcoming Sexual Abuse by William Lee Carter
• The Safe Child Book by Sherryll Kraizer

Things Survivors Wish They’d Known: Information for Co-Survivors

How to Help

• Get connected with other survivors and co-survivors.
• Share your own struggle with a health crisis or other hardship.
• Help your loved one when they ask and be there to listen.

What to Say

• "This was not your fault."
• "You are not alone."
• "You can always talk to me."

What Not to Say

• "Get over it."
• "It doesn't sound that bad."
• "It seems like everyone is claiming they were abused these days."

Things You Can Do for a Survivor Today and Every Day

• Be available when they need you, and check in by phone and email.
• Ask how they're feeling and how therapy is going, if they're seeing a therapist.

How to Build a Support Network

• Set up a TSC co-survivor profile.
• Join support groups and forums.
• Create a network of supportive and encouraging family and friends who understand what you’ve been through.

Emotions surrounding abuse as a child and/or teenager can be overwhelming for a survivor. Fear, sadness, anxiety, hopelessness - all of these and more may come up without warning, sometimes years after the abuse occurred. Remember: You are not alone. Many other survivors are available for support and to help you move forward.

Recovery

Dealing with the emotions that come up from abuse can take a lifetime, but it does get much easier with time, patience, and drawing in the support you need:

• Catharsis Foundation: Reclaiming Life After Child Abuse
• eHow.com How to Heal the Inner Child After Child Abuse
• Adult Survivors of Abuse: "Survivor to Thriver Manual"
  

Read testimonials from survivors of child abuse and submit your own in this online community:

Experience Project: "I Am a Child Abuse Survivor"

Give Back

Beyond sharing your story of survival with others on The Survivors Club, and at other online communities, you may want to consider making a donation to an organization that works to raise awareness about abuse of children and bring a stop to it:

• ChildAbuse.org: Donate
• Child Molestation Research & Prevention Institute: Make a Donation

Death

The loss of a due due to abuse or neglect is a true tragedy. But the Organization for Child Death and Review reports that over 2,000 children die from child abuse every year. Here are some resources to help you cope if you have lost a child to abuse, or if you feel a child you know is at risk of serious harm or even death:

• Child Welfare Information Gateway: Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect 
• International Child Abuse Network: United States Child Abuse Reporting Numbers
• The Compassionate Friends: Supporting Family After a Child Dies