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Signs of Abuse

As adults, we can play a key role in protecting our community’s children by being vigilant for signs of child abuse. While some caution is necessary in not jumping to conclusions on the basis of independent symptoms or incidents of behaviour that could be attributable to other causes, any indication of abuse is worthy of notice and monitoring. Keeping a record of any of the behaviours or symptoms below can be of great help to child investigators in cases of abuse. Most importantly, please remember that 90% of child abuse goes unreported. Your attention and awareness can save a child.

Call for assistance immediately. In Alberta, you are legally bound to report all suspected cases of child abuse to Children’s Services. Alberta’s Child Abuse Hotline is 1–800-387–5437.

The following indicators may alert you to the possibility of abuse:

  • Unexplained bruises, cuts, welts or other injuries that appear in suspicious areas such as the face, back, abdomen, side of the head or lower legs as opposed to areas normally prone to injury such as knees, shins and elbows.
  • Burns which leave a pattern outlining the object which was used to make the burn, such as a cigarette, an iron or an electric stove burner; burns on the hands, feet or buttocks caused by scalding water and rope burns caused by being tied.
  • A child who is continually hungry, unsuitably dressed for the weather and/or always dirty.
  • A young child who is often left alone.
  • A child who is unusually aggressive, angry and hostile to other people.
  • A child who demonstrates withdrawn behaviour, who refuses to participate or dress appropriately for physical activities.
  • A child who shows unusual knowledge of sexual matters, who acts sexually provocative around adults or who shows unusual fear of a particular adult, adults of a particular sex or adults in general.
  • A child who hints or talks directly about sexual abuse.
  • A child or adolescent who repeatedly runs away from home.
  • An adolescent who is extremely withdrawn or aggressive.

Additional Signs of Physical Abuse

Most children have accidents from time to time, so every bruise and scrape is not necessarily cause to suspect child abuse. However, child abuse should be suspected when:

*The explanation given for the cause does not fit the injury or when the explanation varies on different accounts.
*Injuries occur more frequently than would be expected.

Additional Signs of Sexual Abuse

The following information is adapted from The Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton’s Indicators of Sexual Abuse List:

Pre-school Children

  • Regression to an earlier stage of development or behaviour that had been given up, such as thumb-sucking, bed-wetting, baby talk or insistence on a favourite blanket.
  • Sleeping problems: bed-wetting, nightmares, screaming during the night, refusal to stay in bed or in the bedroom and/or sleeplessness.
  • Withdrawal, unhappiness, anxiety, excessive crying, loss of appetite, biting nails to the quick and/or excessive scratching.
  • Anger, hostility, irritability and/or violent disruptions.
  • Problems with bowel and bladder control, particularly if accompanied by signs of stress and fear.
  • Unusual or extreme fears of: particular rooms or areas of the house or having a door to a room closed; a particular family member or friend; being left alone with someone; being touched (shrinking away from physical contact, withdrawing or going rigid when being examined, especially in the genital area and/or frantic when having diapers changed).
  • Unusual physical symptoms such as vaginal or rectal discharge or rashes.

School Age Children

  • Inappropriate touching, such as reaching for an adult’s breasts or genital area.
  • Seductive behaviour.
  • Overly mature in appearance or manner.
  • Creating writing or artwork that presents sexual themes or portrays sexually abusive behaviour.
  • Sexual aggression toward other children.
  • Troublesome behaviour such as lying, stealing or running away (particularly if repetitive).
  • Repeated attempts to run away when there is no other misbehaviour. (This may be the child’s way of attempting to draw attention to her/himself without disclosing.)
  • Frequent unauthorized absences from school without regard for school performance.
  • Refusal to undress for physical education classes or extreme fear of showers, bathrooms and/or closed doors.
  • Dissociating under stress. For example, the child may “blank out” while being reprimanded or criticized. (This may happen because the child has learned to dissociate while the abuse is happening and dissociation becomes generalized to other stressful situations.)
  • Explicit sexual language or unusual statements that make sense only in a sexual context.
  • Attempting specific sexual behaviour with other people or exhibiting premature knowledge of sexual behaviours. This does not pertain to typical childhood explorations but to behaviours such as oral sex or exhibiting knowledge of how to stroke a penis to arousal. Sexual acting-out is an indicator of abuse, especially when done in an angry, aggressive or controlling manner and/or when it is accompanied by threats or instructions not to tell anyone about it.
  • Inserting an object into the rectum or vagina.
  • Sore mouth, sore genitals, discomfort when sitting and/or walking strangely.
  • Sexually transmitted diseases in the mouth, anus or vagina, or yeast infections in young girls.

Adolescents

  • Unwillingness to undress for physical education class or to participate in physical education class.
  • Unwillingness to be touched.
  • Frequent absences from school.
  • Depression.
  • Few or no close friends, inability to relate to peers in age-appropriate ways.
  • Provocative or seductive dress or behaviour; sexual promiscuity.
  • Running away, stealing or other troublesome behaviour.
  • Self-destructive behaviours such as drug or alcohol abuse, self-mutilation, cutting, suicide attempts, prostitution and other sexual risk-taking.
  • Eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia.
  • Sexual acting-out behaviours, including offender behaviour.
  • Sudden deterioration in school performance; inability to concentrate.
  • Over-achieving, being a model student, particularly if the student is isolated and fading into the background.
  • Detachment of cognitive functioning from emotional functioning: lack of appropriate response in emotional circumstances, inability to discuss feelings.
  • Lack of respect for the body.

Watch for:

  • Clusters of Behaviours
  • Patterns Over Time
  • Sudden Changes in Behaviour