Research shows child abuse can stem from parental or environmental factors, and often both are at play. Research also shows that ethnicity, where you live or how much money you have does not insulate you against child abuse. Child abuse is not a problem of the poor and disadvantaged. It is endemic through our community and takes no heed of race, wealth, profession or location.

YES! I can help. 

When we think of child abuse, many of us think it doesn’t happen in our family, that it is a problem someone else has to live with. But that is not the case.

When children are badly treated, they get hurt, either emotionally, physically or both. This leaves invisible scars behind which have a negative impact on their teenage and adult lives.

Often when these children reach adulthood and have children of their own, these scars trigger the same acts against their own children, thus making this abuse inter generational. For many families, abuse is the family legacy, handed down generation to generation.

In the past, people have turned a blind eye to this, believing it all to be part of responsible parenting. Many times I have heard the phrase “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you?” ring through my ears.

These attempts to punish children for “their own good” and doing it in a way the perpetrator doesn’t believe to be right leaves scars.

• Scars that say it is okay to hurt children.
• Scars that get passed down generations.
• Scars that disadvantage children.
• Scars that increase rates of delinquency, teenage pregnancies, low academic achievement, drug use and mental health issues.
• Scars that stop a person from reaching their full potential.
• Scars that manipulate the shape and future of our communities.

Our dream is to turn this around. It is a big dream, and we need your help.