What is Child Abuse?
If you are worried that you or someone you know is being abused you can get help here
Always Remember: Abuse is Never Your Choice and is Never Your Fault
Abuse means somebody hurting a child or not keeping them safe.
For example,
Doing something harmful, like hitting or saying mean things.
Or not doing something to keep them safe, like ignoring when they need help.
Abuse isn’t just about being hurt on the outside. It can also mean:
- Feeling sad or scared because of how someone treats you.
- Seeing someone else being hurt.
People sometimes use words like harm, safeguarding, or exploitation when they talk about abuse.
There are different types of abuse, click the headings to read more
(Content warning: This page contains descriptions of different kinds of abuse, including physical and sexual abuse.)
Physical Abuse +
Examples of Physical Abuse are:
- Hitting or kicking you
- Squeezing or twisting parts of your body
- Biting or burning
- Violent shaking or holding you
- Making you swallow something that makes you feel ill, or giving you medicine when you don’t need it
Find out more about Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is when someone hurts you on purpose.
Emotional Abuse +
Examples of emotional abuse would be:
- Being threatened
- Being made fun of or made to feel stupid
- Seeing violence between people who care for you
- Shouting or breaking things
Find out more about Emotional Abuse
If you’re constantly being put down, ignored, or made to feel like you’re not good enough then that can be emotional abuse.
Neglect +
All children and young people have the right to be properly looked after and to have the things they need – like food and drink and a safe home. These are things that you need to be able to grow up healthy and well.
Neglect is when a parent or the person caring for you regularly forgets or deliberately doesn’t give you the right care you need over a long time.
Examples of neglect may be:
- Not being given enough food or enough healthy food to eat
- Not being able to keep clean and warm or not having a clean and warm place to sleep or play
- Not making sure you get to school or to appointments with the doctor or dentist
Find out more about Neglect
If you are not being looked after properly, for example, not getting enough to eat or being left alone in dangerous situations.
Sexual Abuse +
Examples of sexual abuse are:
- being pressured or forced to do something sexual or have sex
- someone flashing or exposing themselves to you in person or online
- being shown sexual pictures or videos or being forced into taking sexual photos
- doing anything sexual without your consent
Find out more about Sexual Abuse from Childline here
See also
Is This Love? for lots of advice about healthy relationships, the information has been themed around conversations showing how easy it is for emotional, physical and sexual abuse to start and go unnoticed before escalating.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation have recently launched Shore - a safe and anonymous website created just for young people who may worried about their own, or someone else's sexual behaviour.
And Was That OK is a tool for 11-17 yr olds to help you answer the question “Was That OK?” about anything sexual.
Sexual abuse means being forced, pressurised or tricked into taking part in any kind of sexual activity with someone else. This can happen in normal life and online.
Bullying +
For example
- being called names, teased or humiliated
- posting, commenting on or liking nasty photos, videos or posts about you online
- being pushed, hit or hurt
- having money or other stuff stolen
- spreading rumours or starting group chats about you
- being ignored, left out or made to feel like you're not wanted
- being threatened, intimidated or sent nasty messages
- trolling you or commenting on your posts or pictures saying nasty things
- someone revealing personal details without your permission
- targeting you over and over again in an online game
Bullying is always wrong - report it and get support from someone you trust
Find out more about Types of Bullying and sources of support
Bullying is abusive, it can happen anywhere and be about anything.
Domestic Abuse +
Abuse has happened in lots of families, and anyone can go through it. It might not always be obvious, and if someone is using bullying or violence to get what they want, that’s domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse includes:
- physical violence
- threats and frightening behaviour
- controlling someone’s life or stopping them from going to work or to school
You can be affected by abuse even when it’s not directed at you, and it’s always okay to get support. Whatever’s happening at home or in your relationship, you’re not alone.
Contact Safer Futures if you have experienced or are experiencing domestic abuse and/or sexual violence: 0300 777477
Find out more about Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse is when someone threatens, bullies, or hurts someone in their family or their relationship. Sometimes it’s called domestic violence, but someone doesn’t need to physically hurt you to be abusive.
Exploitation +
This may be by making you do something against the law, like stealing or hiding stolen things.
It may be by making you have sexual relationships with people that you don’t know, or making you take sexual pictures and then using them to threaten you.
Sometimes it is really clear that you are being exploited. Sometimes it can be more difficult to know or realise because people will trick you into thinking that what is happening is nice, fun, good for you, or that you owe someone so you feel you need to do what they ask.
Exploitation involves many types of abuse and includes being made to:
- steal, carry or sell drugs
- work for someone unfairly without being paid
- film or stream sexual activity
- being made to do things as part of a gang
Find out more about exploitation from Childline
or from OSCP here
Exploitation is when you are being taken advantage of so that someone else can benefit. It is when you are pressurised, forced or tricked into doing something that you do not want to do.