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Meet Joe. Joe was born to a set of kind and loving parents. Tragically, Joe’s mom died of cancer when he was three, and now it was up to Joe’s father to raise him and his little sister. Unfortunately, Joe’s father took his wife’s death pretty hard and began to drink consistently. He than began to take his frustrations out on his son. He would beat Joe for the simplest things and confine him to his room. Joe wanted to escape and thought about running away but how could he leave his little sister in a house of terror. If only he had someone to speak up for him and help him through these trying times.
When a child enters the world, they are full of innocence and virtue. It is the parent’s job to teach their child the rights and wrongs of life. They must nurture, love and take care of their newborn well into adulthood. Regrettably, every child is not born with a compassionate parent. There are some parents who either don’t know how to take care of their child or blame their offspring for their misfortunes. These predicaments can lead to child abuse; physical and mental. Child abuse is defined as the maltreatment of a child by a parent or guardian (Winton, 29). A common belief is that child abuse only occurs in poor families or bad neighborhoods, but this is not true. Child abuse crosses all racial, economic, and cultural lines. Sometimes, families who seem to have it all from the outside are hiding a different story behind closed doors.
Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars. Some signs of child abuse are subtler than others. Ignoring children’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid are also considered forms of child abuse (Winton 36).

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