If you are in immediate danger dial 000
Hide my screen
DCD HOME > youthsayno home > trouble at home> what is child abuse?
What is child abuse?

Child abuse is when your parents or other adults taking care of you hurt you on purpose and/or put you at risk of being hurt. The following information describes child abuse.

Types of abuse towards young people

Emotional abuse is when a parent (or another adult) constantly:

  • puts you down and calls you names
  • makes you feel like you’re worthless
  • always acts like he/she doesn’t care about you.

Neglect is when a parent:

  • doesn’t take proper care of you
  • doesn’t give you enough food or drink, or a safe and clean place to live.

Physical abuse is when a parent or a family member:

  • hits, bashes or physically injures you in other ways
  • threatens to hurt you.

Sexual abuse is when a parent, someone in your family, or someone else:

  • does sexual things (including touching your private parts, or making you touch or look at their private parts)
  • tricks, pressures, scares, confuses or threatens you so that you feel like you have to do these things.


 

Ryan’s story

"I can’t seem to do anything right around my parents. Mum hits me all the time, especially when she gets home from work and she’s running around getting dinner ready and stuff. If I try to help out, then I get slapped and yelled at for getting in the way and making a mess, but if I try to stay out of her way then she lays a guilt trip on me for not helping. As soon as dad gets home mum always tells him how useless I am. Then dad yells at me for upsetting mum, and tells me what a good for nothing kid I am. Sometimes he even hits he gets so mad.

I try so hard to do things right but it just doesn’t get any better. Sometimes I lock myself away in my room but I can still hear them talking about me like I’m just a no body."

It can be a difficult time for young people who are being abused by one or both of
their parents or another family member. Ryan thinks he is doing something to cause this to happen, but he isn’t. No one deserves to be abused and what’s happening to Ryan is wrong. He has the right to feel safe and feel loved. Ryan could reach out to someone he trusts or call one of the services listed on this site and tell his story then he may not feel so alone.