“He was abused as a child, and instead of dealing with it, he pushed it down and pretended it didn’t happen. He struggled with bipolar and alcoholism for most of his life. He would throw my mother down flights of stairs. She was so strong. She promised that she wouldn’t let any of his abuse fall on me. Life went on like this for a while until she left him. However, the courts thought it best that I go with my dad. I stayed with him for a while and it was terrible. He would get really mad and yell all the time. I remember him putting out cigarettes on my back. I could never get away from him. It was awful. I lived with him for a while, through the physical and emotional abuse, trying to remind myself that he wasn’t trying to hurt me and that it wasn’t his fault because he wasn’t well. When I was finally removed from the situation I locked away all that was done to me. My mom got full custody of me and I was allowed supervised visitation with my father. He would threaten my mom constantly. One day he came and took me to California for two weeks without anyone’s knowledge, and I was so scared. After this, I was often afraid he would come back and hurt me. I was in the third grade when he committed suicide. I started to open up and tell my story. CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocates]  helped me get counseling and speak out about my experiences. I now speak at CASA events in front of thousands of people about how I turned my experiences around for the better.”

-Anonymous AAHS Student.

This is a story of a brave student that fought through a difficult and abusive childhood to stand tall and strong today. This student now advocates for children who have been abused across the country and has really made a difference, despite the adversity they faced.

On average, 40 million children are subjected to abuse every year. These children are beaten, demeaned, neglected, and then left to pick up the pieces.

It is important to know the warning signs of an abusive home life. These signs include withdrawals from friends or usual activities, changes in behavior, depression, frequent absences from school, reluctance to leave school and obvious signs of neglect.

In most situations the child doesn’t know that the abuse they are receiving is wrong, and if they do, they are often too dependent on the abuser to speak up. Most children are too afraid to tell someone that they are in trouble; if you recognize any behavior associated with child abuse, please do not hesitate to call an abuse hotline (such as Safe to Tell).

Child abuse can have serious long-term effects such as psychological, developmental and physical issues. Depression, and anxiety also often develop. However, children who are removed from these abusive situations, counseled and mentored usually turn out to be strong, ambitious people.

Associations such as CASA help children that have grown up in violent homes talk through their experiences and heal from what they have gone through. The mentors in this association are court appointed and have devoted their lives to making sure that the futures for these children are bright.

If you know of someone in an abusive household please do not hesitate to call the National Child Abuse Hotline at

1-800-4-A-Child

1-800-422-4453