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"Our mission is to increase public awareness about domestic violence and emotional child abuse; serve as an outlet for emotionally traumatized children. The organization will pursue these goals through innovative outreach techniques and education designed specifically to strengthen families and create opportunities for children to live free from emotional abuse."                     

The question is raised, “How would a parent, guardian, or any other adult know if what they say to their child could constitute emotional child abuse?  If you find yourself perplexed you should be.  Read your state child abuse law, in many states there is no attention given to nor is there a clear definition of what constitutes emotional child abuse.   

CHILDS CRY FOR HELP INC.........   Introduces   ‘CITE RED’ 

‘CITE RED’ is our acronym which represents seven common words identified with emotional abuse.  They are emotional abuse indicators. Each of the letters in ‘CITE RED’ stands for one of these seven words:

             C  CORRUPTION                    R   REJECTION

             I    ISOLATION                       E   EMOTIONALLY UNRESPONSIVE

             T   TERROR                              

 Verbal Assault: The Destructive Power of Emotional Abuse Defined

  When people think of child abuse they picture the physical trauma a child endures at the hands of a parent, guardian, or other adult.  What they do not realize  is that  children suffer from emotional abuse in the form of verbal assault and mental cruelty which does not even involve lifting a hand!   Parents often state “I never hit my child”, yet they fail to realize that their demeaning crude language directed toward an impressionable child has a far greater impact.  

Each year in the United States alone there over 100,000 severe cases of emotional child abuse are reported to authorities.  In addition, there are several hundreds of thousands of cases that go unreported. Furthermore more than three million cases of reported physical and sexual abuse cases do involve emotional maltreatment. Emotional abuse is a crime; however, cases that involve emotional abuse are rarely successfully prosecuted since it is very difficult and often impossible to prove that the emotional abuse indeed occurred.  

 Each state has child abuse laws designed to protect the children in question, but in many states (ex. Florida)  the  child abuse laws do not define emotional abuse and therefore both the crime and the guilty party  go unrecognized.  Since emotional abuse does not adhere to the same defining textbook characteristics that often accompany physical abuse ( bruises, cuts, or any other visible markings) victims of emotional abuse are not likely to receive compensation since no “tell tale” signs of abuse are present.  Case workers are generally trained to look for physical injuries, so if a child shows no bruises they are quick to report that no abuse has occurred and move on to the next case.   Proving that psychological trauma has occurred or a child is suffering from injuries related to emotional/mental abuse requires more than a mere physical screening. The emotional scars are often hidden deeper within a child, and at times may even be repressed leading them to experience not only emotional difficulties but health issues as well.  

The long term affects of emotional abuse is more harmful than the scars caused from physical abuse. However, both physical and sexual abused children suffer from emotional abuse due to their trauma.  Often times the negative trauma that accompanies emotional abuse does not manifest itself right away.  It may be days, weeks, months, or even years before a child is capable of telling someone what occurred, and some of the behavior that the child may exhibit is either misinterpreted as poor conduct, defiant behavior or simply written off altogether and ignored.   Without a proper diagnosis and follow-up treatment, the child stands little chance of successfully processing the emotional trauma on his own.   It should also be noted that, if left untreated, children who are victims of emotional abuse often grow up to be abusers themselves.  

 In many cases, emotional abuse is characterized by pervasive patterns of negative parental behavior and not simply from an isolated incident.   Children are impressionable and subject to the negative effect of comments, insulting statements, and other forms of egregious conduct resulting in the emotional destruction of a young life. To a child, emotional abuse is like a brain cancer; it attacks a child internally, on a mental level, and thus destroys the child’s emotional stability and sense of well-being.   

Most people are unaware that verbal assault and other forms of mental manipulation constitute emotional abuse.  However, this, in and of itself, does not render the abuser guiltless. 

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CHILDS CRY FOR HELP  INC.