Child Abuse

Needs of child abuse survivors

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Ark of Hope for Children recognizes that even after any physical or sexual abuse is over, the emotional torment continues for child abuse Manipulated Living survivors. Victims can often face post traumatic stress (PTSD), mental illness, depression, anxiety, nightmares, falling behind in school, confusion, bullying, separation from siblings, bounced from home to home... the list goes on and on. Food and safe shelter only scratch the surface and yet even in the United States, victims often get little more. (See our international child abuse statistics)

Even adult survivors of child abuse that have not received help will eventually hit an emotional barrier that can feel insurmountable. We have embedded Harrison J. Bahe's short film below called The Manipulated Living by Navajo Joe Films. Manipulated Living helps us make our points in a dramatic way.

The acting of the young boy, Keyghan Burns, shows the level of terror faced by abused children; thumb What now sleeping with one eye open in fear of the next attack. The dramatization of his isolation and barren life are quite often a reality for many victims. Yet we who watch the news trick ourselves into believing once saved from the situation, these kids can go back to a normal life. This is far from the truth. The many emotions and fears do not hide well even when treated.

As the adult child abuse victim J. Lyle Johnson portrays, even into adulthood it can be as if it happened right down the hall for the rest of our lives. Cases in point are the adults in their forties and fifties that have contacted Ark of Hope for Children seeking some form of help.

Victims worldwide are receiving far too little emotional help to overcome the mental obstacles forced upon them by their abusers. Sometimes none at all unless they have financial means to pay professionals. Most people may not be psychologists or professional therapists, but many can be great listeners.

Ark of Hope for Children founder Blair Corbett has been "listening" to child abuse survivors of all sorts online since 1992 and has now started Removing Chains live chat survivor support site to carry that mantle. Hundreds of heart wrenching life stories have been shared with him. In most cases peoples lives have been changed simply by listening and committing to not turn away. In this way, once we have earned the trust of a survivor, we have an opportunity to guide them towards their local providers of assistance.

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Child Abuse Statistics

ChildAbuse ArkofHope

International & U.S.

Child abuse does not discriminate based on gender, social standing, ethnicity, or religion. The child abuse statistics gathered on Ark of

thumb Ark tears logo Hope for Children's site bring a sobering reality to the plight of victimized children. International child abuse statistics are difficult to come by due to the difficulty in keeping track of numbers even in "financially sound" countries. Many countries keep no or inadequate records.

The time is long past for adults to take a stand for the children. We must be willing to throw ourselves in harm's way to save them, but then to provide the long term care these victimized children and young adults need to recover and thrive. Ark of Hope for Children is dedicated to providing care as you can read on other pages on our site.

Statistics compiled by Ark of Hope for Children

Gainesville, FL This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

International Statistics on Child Abuse

40 million children subjected to abuse each year.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents worldwide.
30% of severely disabled children in special homes in the Ukraine die before 18 years of age.
Approximately 20% of women and 5–10% of men report being sexually abused as children, while 25–50% of all children report being physically abused.
Statistics indicate that 3 million young girls are subjected to genital mutilation every year.

U.S. Statistics on Child Abuse

The United States is much more capable of gathering and maintaining statistics of all types.

Physical Abuse:

Acts considered to be physical abuse are punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, breaking of bones, hair pulling, and shaking an infant. Bruises in areas that usually do not occur during normal play = cheeks, ears, mouth, buttocks, thighs, stomach, and back.

Neglect:

Neglect makes up for 78% of all cases of child abuse, and is greatly under-reported and often unnoticed by others who care for the child. Neglect includes inadequate nutrition, clothing and hygene; medical neglect, being left unattended in a car, and abandonment.

Sexual Abuse:

Child rape occurs every two minutes
1 in 3 girls will be sexually molested before the age 17
1 in 6 boys will be sexually molested before the age 17 (1 in 5 in Canada)
Sex offenders have been known to molest as many as 120+ victims, most of whom do not report it
90% of molesters abuse children they know
Oftentimes, a sexually abused child is abused in other ways

Overall U.S. child abuse statistics:

Every 10 seconds a child is abused or raped
3.3 million child abuse reports in 2010
For every report 2 more go unreported = many millions abused annually
61,000 reports to Child Protective services per week = 6 per minute
Of 1.5 million runaways 85% are fleeing some form of abuse
Only 10% of abusers do not know their abuser well
Abuse victims = about 48% male, 52% female
Every race and religion sees child abuse

The effects of UNTREATED child abuse:

38% increase arrest rate for violent crimes
84% of all prison inmates are estimated to having been abused as a child (anonymous source)
59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile
28% more likely to be arrested as an adult
30% more likely to commit violent crime
65%+ of people addidted to or in treatment for drug abuse are estimated to have been maltreated as a child (anonymous ACE's source)
25% less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at a greater risk for STD's
82% CAN grow up to be pedophiles themselves
80% meet criteria for at least one psychological disorder as adults
Long-term consequences such as chronic illness due to untreated wounds

Child death and suicide related to abuse:

1,850 children die a year from some form of child abuse = 7+ children a day in the U.S. alone!
80% of the children that die each day are under the age of four
TODAY 6 children will commit suicide due to child abuse
Estimated 60% of child deaths caused by child abuse are not recorded as such on death certificates