Child Maltreatment

According to World Health Organization, it states "Child maltreatment, sometimes referred to as child abuse and neglect, includes all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, development or dignity".

A child as young as 1 day old can be in risk of getting abused by those around him/her. It all depends on who the parent/family/friends are and what their condition is.Those that abuse, has been abused as a child. The reason i say that is because from a psychology article i was reading last year it stated that, some individuals go through traumatic stress and abuse at a young age and without them getting the help they need, they take it out on their kids or those around them as they get older.

As i was surfing the web, one thing that caught my attention was a passage from Vermont.gov, it clearly said "It’s impossible to describe a typical abuser. They look and act in various ways, can be found in all areas of society, and are often well-respected members of our communities. They may appear to be kind, caring people who are great with kids. Abusers work hard to cultivate this image—so people will not suspect them of, and will not believe it if they are ever accused of, sexually abusing children."  The moment i seen this, i agreed with it, one because we as humans don't know what a typical abuser looks like. Its really not that simple to point out and say " Yup hes a abuser". Since we cant judge of the bat, we have to be clear and keep of our surroundings because at the end of the day, your own neighbor can be a abuser and you wouldn't suspect that because he/she is friendly and bakes you cakes/cookies. Moral of the story anyone can be a child abuser without us knowing it. But when do you reach out for help is the question, because to certain cultures spanking a child is not abuse. How you know when a person has reached the "abuse" limit. 

-Asha Janay