Dear Future President:

Congrats on the election. You now have a very important job. Now with this new job and new powers we can work on passing new laws and make America a wonderful place. I would like to talk to you about child abuse. There are four different types of child abuse. They are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and child neglect. Many of the abusers were abused as children. They don’t know any better so they bring that pain from their childhood into their new family.

According to National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence, these are the definitions for what child abuse is and what each child abuse is. Child abuse is behavior directed towards a child by a parent, guardian, caregiver, other family member, or another adult, that endangers a child's physical or emotional health and development. Child neglect is continued failure to provide a child with necessary care and protection including shelter, food, clothing, medical care, etc. Also it is child neglect when you have a lack of supervision, especially for young children, for extended periods of time. Sexual abuse can be non- physical, physical or violent. Physical abuse involves external injuries and is more easily detected than other forms of abuse. Emotional abuse is the most difficult form of child abuse to identify. This abuse includes both verbal assaults and the withholding of positive emotional support. Although the scars may not be visible to the eye, emotional abuse wounds the spirit, frequently leaving its marks for a lifetime.

A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. One fourth of a child's elementary school class has been abused. In 2014, there was an estimated of 702,000 victims of child abuse. 28.3% of adults reported being physically abused as a child. 10.6% of adults report being emotionally abused as a child. 20.7% of adults report they were sexually abused as a child. One out of three girls will have been sexually abused before the age of 18. One out of five boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. In 2014 they estimated that 1,580 children died as a result of child abuse and neglect. This means between 4-5 kids die every day. More than 80% of children who are killed because of child abuse were not old enough to start kindergarten.

Parents who are abusing their children often put the blame on the child. They make the child believe it is their fault. Most children don’t even know what’s going on. Some of these kids are just learning how to talk. These children are very young and don’t understand what is going on. Older kids are afraid to report anything. They might worry about what will happen when their abuser finds out. They feel that their life might be on the line. There are also bystanders. These bystanders know that the abusing is happening and don't say anything. They might even have an idea of what's going on but still keep quiet. Bystanders need to speak up for the victim's safety. Younger kids are more at risk. Never just leave your child alone when they are often alone. Now not all people are bad but you need to be cautious of who you are leaving your child with. When your child is left alone with that person that is best time for the abuser to attack because this child is helpless.

Children are afraid to speak up. They worry about what will happen to them, they worry about what will happen to the abuser. Most of the time the abuser is someone close to them. We need to start teaching children at young ages it is okay to ask for help. It's okay to speak up and you should never think it's bad to ask for help. Even though this topic might be uncomfortable kids need to know and learn about this. Younger children are more at risk because they don't know any better. These kids need to know that what's happening to them is not their fault and they don’t deserve this pain. Also i think there needs to be a requirement that adults have to attend meetings about children abuse. Adults need to know that what they do to these children will affect them for the rest of their lives. They need to understand the long term effects of all four different types of abuses. I feel we need stricter rules and punishments for abusers. Also we could form a program where we talk about child abuse and the effects of it. Have guest speakers come into the schools and teach children about this. I hope the amount of deaths and child abuse decreases because children don't deserve this type of pain in their lives.

Sincerely,

Keala McCurry