does anyone have personal testimonies on child abuse?

Question

Have u ever been abused, Do you know someone that has been abused, if yes then please tell me the name of the child abused, the age, and what happened. i need to know for hmwk. THANKS!

Answer 1

Between the ages of 4 and 9 I was sexually abused. Not by my parents or any family members, but by people my parents entrusted to watch over me while they were at work. My parents found out about some of it, but didn't do anything to stop it. They were more concerned about their professional image than they were about me...so I never got any help or any protection. I don't want to go into details about what actually happened...it's too embarrassing, too personal, and there would be too many occasions to describe. I'll just say that it wasn't one person. It was two people who did this to me...one was a teenaged babysitter (she was probably 16 or 17), and the other was a 45-50 year old man, the husband of someone who was in charge of watching me when I was little. The result of all of this was that I felt very different from other kids....alienated, I guess you could say...when I was in the second grade, I can remember thinking that other kids in my class seemed to be a whole lot happier than I, and I remember thinking that they seemed rather immature, to me. I remember feeling quite jealous that they were so happy...they laughed a lot...I never did. I guess I grew up too fast. I never felt "at home" with my peers. I was depressed, too, but didn't really understand how deep it was until I was a bit older. When I reached my teen years, I tried to commit suicide. That's when I was finally diagnosed with major depression. But the truth of it was, I was depressed long before that. I got in trouble with drugs and drinking. I kept my grades very high. I was an honor student, a perfectionist. I developed an eating disorder. Looking back, I can say that I probably tried very hard to exercise "control" over certain things in my life (and this developed into problems like the eating disorder) because inside I felt very lost, confused, depressed, hopeless, and angry. I ended up pregnant at 18. I married the father, and we ended up having 2 more kids. But he was very abusive. I developed more depression, anxiety attacks, and PTSD. I was married to him for over ten years. He stalked me when I tried to get out of the relationship. He almost killed me. It's taken me most of my adult life to work through these things. I've finally let go of my anger, and my perfectionism. I'm 37 now. I'm drug and alcohol free. And I'm back in college getting a degree. I finally feel like the pieces of my life that were missing are finally being put back into the puzzle. But there are things that haunt me from my past, and they probably always will. I don't readily trust other people. I'm shy. I'm still a loner...I have a hard time trusting anyone with my feelings, or my body. I realize that most of my problems can realistically be traced back to those childhood traumas of being abused. I feel for everyone who's ever been through similar things. I know my story is not nearly as bad as some, and yet look at the impact the abuse had on my entire life...I think of those who have had it worse, and I just can't imagine the problems they've experienced as a result.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I was molested as a young girl and I still have self esteem and confidence issues to this day. I am 24 years old and struggle daily with the things I remember and the thing that I don't but know are there. Things like the inability to trust people when they want to do good for me, inability to ask for help (after being brainwashed into believing that no one would believe anything I said) and the inability to make friends on my own. I was sexually molested by some of my teachers throughout my grade school year and my first grade teacher made it clear to me that if I told anyone, no one would believe me and that I would be in trouble. I never said a word to anyone and let it continue from teacher to teacher through out my school days. I've been able to deal with it as time has gone on, but the lasting effects are still there and will always be.

Answer 3

I am Wayne's wife. I was mentally and emotionally abused. I know that is not as bad as what you all have gone through but to this day I can't stand up to people. My father screamed, told me I was stupid and no matter who I talked to both parents accused me of being a "pig". I never, ever did what they would accuse me of and to this day I feel like I'm not clean somehow. My brother was abused the same way and he cannot remember a lot of his childhood. I wish I was like that. My father had been dead 35 yrs. and I still hate him. I'm an old woman now but can't let go of the hate I had and have for him. Both parents were SO controlling. Even at 19 yrs. old I was afraid of them.

Life if very tough but we do somehow manage to mangle our way through. Good luck to you all.

Answer 4

My name is Erica Sanchez. I was physically abused by my father until the age of 11. He would beat me like, all the time, just for stupid things like laughing, or trying to talk to a friend. Once, when my school was having a fund-raiser, a friend that lived down the street came by to sell stuff. Since my father was upstairs sleeping (I thought...) I started joking around with her. My father came downstairs, yelled at her to go away, then beat me and locked me in a small closet for the rest of the night. I am now claustrophobic.

Answer 5

Yes.
Had two instances in my childhood - one when I was about 5 or 6, similar to Tera, my Mom knew of it but choose to do nothing. It came to a stop when I mentioned it (in confusion, trying to figure good/bad) to a complete stranger outside my school (the father of another child) who in turn asked for my name and went to the headmistress. When home time came, for the first time ever I had to walk home alone as my mom did not pick me up. I walked in a group of other children & their parents for my own safety (crossing roads, etc.) When I got in, Mom was crying. I asked if she was ok and got told I was a bigmouth. I dind't understand for years. I never saw her boyfriend again until years later he happened to coincidentally move close to where we had moved, he had a new 'family' and was married.
Similarly, I wont' divulge what occurred, but let's just say it did cause a lot of confusion over the years and self analysis.
Later,when I was about 10 - we moved home and I began babysitting for a neighbour. I'd already got a slightly fussy idea of what sex was meant to be about - and this woman (21) was extremely attractive. Again, I wont' go into details of what was encountered suffice to say that I ended up with the police knocking on my door, 'threatening' (or, persuading using what could be construed as threats) to take DNA evidence and me running away from home in fear.
I had to be 15 before I finally got around to even 'thinking' about these things, and was 19 when I first asked for help from the medical profession. My Doctor was downright disgraceful and basically laughed me out of the office. I have since not bothered trying to acquire help, aside from reading up and taking psychology classes in an effort to make sense of who I am and how I may have been affected.
I get annoyed with people who generalise men as being the only ones capable of sexual misdeeds and abuse in general.
My Mom was a very... angry woman in my childhood and used to beat my older Brother. He moved out after she took a metal organ-leg (those real old electric organs that used to 'hum' with the air blowing through them) and left bruises up & down his back. Once he'd gone - there was my Sister and I remaining. I then assumed the responsibility of taking her anger. Once she realised I was becoming immune to her, she took to using weapons (bamboo cane, skoll shoes, etc.) and once nearly breaking my arm by sitting on me (she was a jolly large woman back in the day). Eventually, between the issues surrounding the 21yr old woman and the recurring reports to Social Services (England's version of the CPS), I was taken into care on an interum court order. Upon seeing an improvement in my behaviours (one area being that I had a male role model to look to), it was determined I should remain with my foster carers. With the help of my foster parents, social worker and reports from various psychologists & the like, I was 'merged' back into mainstream school (I'd been expelled just prior to going into care due to taking a knife into school as I was sick to the back of my teeth with being bullied by others - girls & boys alike).

I left school with nothing. I'm now retaking my educational years by attending an HND (Higher National Diploma/ Higher Education) course in computing - computing seems to be the only area I can work happily (I suspect the solitude element helps - being able to solve problems without someone over my shoulder).