CHILD ABUSE QUOTES & SAYINGS

Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime.
~ Herbert Ward

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.
~ Dr. Haim Ginott

The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of their time each day.
~ M. Grundler

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
~Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family

Simply having children does not make mothers.
~John A. Shedd

A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.
~ Sitting Bull

Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.
~ Richard L. Evans

Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Kids go where there is excitement. They stay where there is love.
~ Zig Ziglar

Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.
~ Walt Disney

If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.
~ Haim Ginott

He who teaches children learns more than they do.
~ German Proverb

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said and what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
~ Maya Angelou

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of overcoming it.
~ Helen Keller

Child abuse does not go away, but 90 percent of child abuse is preventable.
~ Karen Adams

It’s important to talk about it. You raise awareness. But you can also prevent it (child abuse) by not letting it be a secret.
~ Chris Witty

A lot of people in our community don’t want to believe that child abuse happens in their neighborhoods — but it does.
~ Shari Pulliam

When someone was hitting me, or like sexually molesting me, it just seemed normal to continue to do that to myself.
~ Tatum O’Neal

Abuse changes your life…Fight Back and change the life of your abusers by Breaking Your Silence on Abuse!
~ Patty Rase Hopson

Everyone is an abused child, if you think about what governments do.
~ Tim Roth

The consequences of your denial will be with you for a lifetime and will be passed down to the next generations. Break your Silence on Abuse!
~ Patty Rase Hopson

The only reason why child abuse is alive today, is because we as adults fail our children when we fail to listen to them. Listen to a child today!
~ Heather McClane

Child abuse and neglect offend the basic values of our state. We have a responsibility to provide safe settings for at-risk children and facilitate permanent placement for children who cannot return home.
~ Matt Blunt

I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.
~ Kenny Guinn

In my view, there is nothing more vicious and outrageous than the abuse, exploitation and harm of the most vulnerable members of our society, and I firmly believe that our nation’s laws and resources need to reflect the seriousness of these terrible crimes.
~ Bob Ney

At least half of child abuse victims want to physically see or visit with the offender. They feel that any kind of clarity about why those things happened can help healing.
~ Gary Schoener

Child abuse and neglect is sometimes the result of a parent who reaches the end of their frustration and tolerance level. If we can give parents tools to deal with an infant who is particularly challenging with their crying, we will have taken an important step toward our prevention mandate.
~ Gary Kleeblatt

Child abuse is a problem no one really talks about. Abuse and neglect is the number 1 cause of injury to children in the country. More children die of abuse or neglect than of natural causes.
~ Donna Miller

You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust hasb een betrayed and your dignity has been violated. We are all scandalised by the sins and failures of some of the Church’s members.
~Pope Benedict XVI (Apology to Irish victims of sex abuse by priests, in a letter to Irish Catholics.)

I was covered in scars from the beatings, and she used to say it was hockey. . . She’d apologise. She was in pain. I understand that now, but you don’t when you’re three and four and you’re being beaten to death with a hoover.
~Brenda Fricker (Actress on how her bipolar manic depressive mother used to beat her as a child.)

Unfortunately, I experienced some sexual abuse. It was a known and admitted fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn’t want to be left in the dressing room with him. It took many years to come to terms with it and to forgive those incidents that I felt had deeply hurt me.
~Gabriel Byrne (Actor on how he was sexually abused by Christian Brothers when he was an altar boy in Dublin.)

Child abuse continues to be a significant problem in the United States. It was estimated that in 2001, 903,000 children were the victims of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse is a crime perpetrated on the innocent and the defenseless.
~Pete Domenici

I was angry about the fact that my father would beat my mother on a daily basis, that my mother would take it in turn and beat on me. I was an abused child. I was mad about all those things, very bitter and very angry.
~Rick James

We expect teachers to handle teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and the failings of the family. Then we expect them to educate our children.
~John Sculley

I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.
~Kenny Guinn

Child abuse does not go away, but 90 percent of child abuse is preventable.
~Karen Adams

Child abuse and neglect offend the basic values of our state. We have a responsibility to provide safe settings for at-risk children and facilitate permanent placement for children who cannot return home.”
~Matt Blunt

Most of the people we see don’t want to live in a shelter and feel safe in their own little camp. Experience has taught me that almost 100 percent of these people suffered abuse as children. Well over half have emotional, mental problems. Most have drug and alcohol problems.
~John Gallagher

The consequences of your denial will be with you for a lifetime and will be passed down to the next generations. Break your Silence on Abuse!
~Patty Rase Hopson

The only reason why child abuse is alive today, is because we as adults fail our children when we fail to listen to them. Listen to a child today!
~Heather McClane

One in four children being victimized? That’s about seven children in every classroom. That’s a significant proportion of the population.
~Wendy Craig

I think the issue of clergy sexual abuse sparked people to look at their faith in a different way.
~William P. Leahy

I’ve overcome neglect and deprivation, abandonment and abuse.
~Tatum O’Neal

In my view, there is nothing more vicious and outrageous than the abuse, exploitation and harm of the most vulnerable members of our society, and I firmly believe that our nation’s laws and resources need to reflect the seriousness of these terrible crimes.
~Bob Ney

It’s important to talk about it. You raise awareness. But you can also prevent it (child abuse) by not letting it be a secret.
~Chris Witty

A lot of people in our community don’t want to believe that child abuse happens in their neighborhoods — but it does.
~Shari Pulliam

At least half of child abuse victims want to physically see or visit with the offender. They feel that any kind of clarity about why those things happened can help healing.
~Gary Schoener

Child abuse and neglect is sometimes the result of a parent who reaches the end of their frustration and tolerance level. If we can give parents tools to deal with an infant who is particularly challenging with their crying, we will have taken an important step toward our prevention mandate.
~Gary Kleeblatt

Child abuse is a problem no one really talks about. Abuse and neglect is the number 1 cause of injury to children in the country. More children die of abuse or neglect than of natural causes.
~Donna Miller

 

CHILD ABUSE POETRY

I Am A Child
I am a child, who has been abused.
I am a child, who was been rejected by my parents.
I am a child, who has lost my childhood.
I am a child, that has many hurts.
I am a child, who needs love.
I am a child, who needs to heal.
I am a child, that wants some one to love me.
I am a child, that needs a some one to help me.
I am a child, that has been wounded by all kinds of abuse.
I am a child, that needs some one to take care of me.
I am a child, that is some one, I am a human being.
I am a child, that wants to be abuse free.
I am a child, who needs a family. A real family, without abuse.
~By Lela Albert 2007
(In Honor of Mark. Mark was abused and has told on his abuser.)

Children Learn What They Live:
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with sarcasm, he learns to be mean.
If a child lives with manipulative parents, he learns to be manipulative.
If a child lives with emotional abuse, he will learn to withdraw.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
He a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

Never:
We should never permit ourselves to do anything
that we are not willing to see our children do.
Your children will become what you are;
so be what you want them to be.

All Over Again:
If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I’d do more hugging and less tugging.

 

The Club No One Wants To Join
Sugar and Spice though that sounds nice, is NOT what all little girls are made of. From the other side of the tracks, life had nothing to do with nice things like spice, but piss and little else.

I wonder how many people can look at me and know all those things I do not show. Why I react the way I do when I hear a sound, a familiar smell, or a song that brings back the past. Built a wall, where no one can get in, much safer in here, without all the bad men. Supposed to protect, instead using me for your secret desires. In hindsight, no one said how to know when it wasn’t right, except the horrible pains that keep me up at night. Keeping secrets that could not be told, for fear of the retribution that would unfold.

Blame what you want, (how I dressed, the excuse, what I said, and resulting abuse) but really you are just fucked in the head. You took what was mine to give to whom I choose, instead you chose to steal and abuse. You took all that was good and pure, since then I have had this pain to endure. I deserve more justice than I got, but there is one thing you can have NOT. I choose to LIVE. I choose to be free, from all those things I can’t help but see, that put me back into that victim mentality.  You may have raped my soul many times, but I take it back, it’s not your prize. You do not own me, I will never forget, but no longer enslaved to you!

Don’t think for one minute I forgive and forget, instead I forgive myself and chose not to regret. I now have a voice that is louder than you, I speak for the victims that have had to deal with one such as you. I speak for the children who can’t say no, who have nowhere else to go. Those that hide under their beds, in a fetal position with covers over their heads. The same children that told and were not listened to, that had to endure all the pain I went through.  I speak for the Women that trusted in you to do what you said you would do, but instead you were untrue. I cry out to the Women that married men like you, and pray they save their own children before they are abused too.  I speak for members of a club no one chooses to join, the ones abused.
By: Kinsley Northam Braun (10-12-09)

 

Greeting Angels
Caylee, are you listening?
I just wanted you to know
that we prayed that you’d get justice,
but I guess it won’t be so.
And I wondered if you met Tesslynn
when you reached that heavenly shore,
and was little Lattie waiting?
Lord there are so many more.
Noah, John, Luke, and Paul,
and little sister Mary Yates,
Adam, Amy, Nixmary and Amber;
only God could know their fates.
JonBenet’ and Riley Ann,
way too soon these children died.
Polly, Kelsey, and Jessica;
oh Lord the tears I’ve cried.
Samantha, Austin and Justin,
Terrance, Erica and Lily too,
Liam, Cyrus and Javan,
Michael and Alex to name a few.
Caylee were they waiting
with the angels by their side?
And did Jesus hold you close
when you realized that you had died?
So many innocent children
abused and beaten and all alone;
Lord why didn’t anyone stop them,
hadn’t anybody known?
Lord help us to help the children,
help us to hear their cries,
before one more child is tortured,
before one more angel dies….
© Sunday, July 10, 2011-Susan Maree Jeavons-All Rights Reserved

 

Trespasser
I watch
the sliver of light
beneath my door
wait
for familiar shadows
to cross my threshold.
Beneath insecure blankets
a silent scream;
invasion complete…
© 2001 Susan Maree Jeavons

 

Musical Lobotomy
If I could purge
that part of my brain
which stores pain,
I would replace it
with a gentle refrain;
Bach, Beethoven
or simply rain…
© 2001 Susan Maree Jeavons

NOTE: Both Poems Published in the Professional Report: “Reframing Responses-Improving Service Provision to Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse who experience Mental Health Problems.” © August 2006, by Corinne Henderson-Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC) of Sydney, Australia. (corinne@mhcc.org.au) Corinne Henderson states that they used Susan’s poems; Musical Lobotomy and Trespasser on page #1 because “They so succinctly reflect the pain and trauma experienced by adult survivors of childhood abuse. We felt it was important to include something in the report that depicted the very personal and yet so widely experienced consequences of abuse.”

 

12:46 am
by Elizabeth D’Apice

On the edge of sleep,
and right before you fall
you’re wrenched away.
A dark figure begins to creep
through your mind,
a shadow of the past
and it shoves you to the floor.
Your heart races.
You try to escape
You try to run
You try to push it away.
But it takes you
and straps you down, stripped.
Until you’re forced to relive every feeling,
every breath,
every whisper,
that took so long to forget.
You had built up some semblance of a wall,
desperate for protection.
But in that moment,
In that moment
Without any pretense
It just
Crumbles.
Like it was made of nothing.
And you’re left raw.

Chin Up
By Elizabeth D’Apice

You feel so alone
Lying there, wrapped in covers
Tears fall silently.

No one seems to see
The emptiness deep inside,
The cracks in your smile.

But, chin up my dear,
You are stronger than you feel.
You are more than this.

You are deeply loved.
You are cherished in our hearts.
You are not alone.