How to Report Child Abuse on a Friend or Family Member

Reporting child abuse is hard. We all know that. That's why so few incidents ever get reported, and so few children ever receive the help they are crying out for. Reporting child abuse when someone you know and care about is the perpetrator is much, much harder. However, we often have a special insight into the lives of our friends and loved ones. When you spend enough time with someone, you begin to see things that aren't apparent to everyone else. You notice a sharp look here and a strange reply there, but it's not always obvious. You sense things that one must be intensely close to a person to be able to detect. You catch those lapses where your friend forgets to hide something about themselves properly, and then quickly covers it up as nicely as possible. You have an advantage. So few people realize that what they see in the lives of others is a sign of trouble. Even if they do realize it, they don't quite know what to do. If you have a friend or loved one whom you feel might be abusing someone in their family, whether physically or verbally, read on for tips on how to handle and assess the situation.

The first thing to look for when you suspect a child might be undergoing some sort of abuse at the hand of a parent that you know is stress in the household, coupled with an attempt to hide that stress and its affects. In other words, if your friend is going through heavy financial trouble, a divorce, and a job loss but is constantly smiling, he or she may be overcompensating. You are probably thinking that the first place to look is at the child, but children are amazing at hiding secrets, especially if they are fearful. Often you can just take a look at the behavior of the parent for signs that a child is being abused. They are taking their troubles out on someone, and if it isn't you or any other adult, and you suspect that something is off anyway, something might be going on behind closed doors. Abused children often have parents that seem supportive and caring, always putting on a good front, and that's exactly what makes it so hard to detect the abuse. Just be aware of that.