Child
abuse is a serious and overwhelming problem – with serious
results – which can become lifelong issues. It changes lives
… and left unreported and untreated - it can ruin lives.
The Youth For Youth Partnership is an initiative of Love Our Children
USA where peer volunteers work with abused youth, offering support
and making reporting child abuse a more supportive experience
… listening to abused youth, helping, encouraging, empowering,
advising … stopping abuse and violence against all youths.
Each
year over 3 million children are reported as
victims of physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse, neglect,
abandonment, and death – and those are only the ones that
were reported! Of those 3 million plus kids, over 98,000
children were treated for sexual abuse. Each year
almost 1.8 million children are abducted.
In the USA, Children are more apt to die from abuse than from
accidents. Every year child abuse permanently disables 18,000
children and youth and seriously injures 565,000
and sadly… child abuse kills more than 3
children every day in America.
Abused
children and youth can feel hopeless, depressed, guilty, anxious,
or ashamed. You are not to blame … you do not deserve to
be abused!
•
No one has the right to abuse you
•
If
you are being abused, you are a victim
•
It
is not your fault that this is happening to you
•
It
is wrong for you to suffer with this pain, fear or sadness
•
You
are not alone … other kids suffer abuse, too.
•
Abusers
like to scare or threaten kids so they won't tell
•
So
many people care about you and want to help you … the Youth
For Youth Partnership is here for you!
Abused youths not only can show physical signs of abuse - Abuse
and violence affects self-esteem! Victims may do poorly in school,
abuse drugs and alcohol, become pregnant, drop-out of school,
have sleeping and/or eating problems, be socially or emotionally
slow, show signs of anger, hurt, confusion, and even worse …
acts of violence, use weapons, and becoming juvenile and adult
criminals can result.
If you
or someone you know has been a victim of abuse or violence…
whether it is physical, emotional and verbal, sexual,
neglect, abandonment, bullying of any type, violence,
or anything else, you are not alone! There is help.
