The document describes several signs that may indicate a child is being abused, including a sudden drop in school performance, arriving at school early and not wanting to go home, lack of help for medical issues, being withdrawn and watchful. It encourages anyone being abused to tell a trusted adult and provides contact information for the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline.

13.  SUDDEN DROP IN SCHOOL
PERFORMANCE OR BEHAVIOR
 ARRIVES AT SCHOOL EARLY AND DOESN’T
WANT TO GO HOME
 LACK OF HELP FOR MEDICAL OR
PHYSICAL PROBLEMS PARENTS HAVE BEEN
NOTIFIED OF
 ALWAYS WATCHFUL, AS IF WAITING FOR
SOMETHING BAD TO OCCUR
 WITHDRAWN

16. After
Before

17.  You Should Know
 No one has the right to abuse you.
 You don't deserve to be abused.
 If you are being abused, you are a victim.
 It's not your fault that you are being treated this way.
 It is wrong that you are suffering this pain, fear or sadness.
 You are not alone. Other kids suffer abuse, too.
 Sometimes abusers scare or threaten kids so they won't tell.
 There are people who care about you and want to help you.
 If you are being abused, please tell a safe person - that's someone you
can trust like a teacher, counselor, school nurse, neighbor or parent. You
can also talk to a Childhelp USA hotline counselor.
 CALL 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) then push 1 to talk to a hotline
counselor. The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline is open 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. The hotline counselors work with translators who
speak 140 languages to help people who call and speak something
other than English. All calls are anonymous. (The hotline counselors don't
know who you are and you don't have to tell them.)

18.  Do not be alone with anyone who hurts
you.
 Listen to the little voice inside when it
says that what is being done to you isn't
right.
 Find an adult you trust and tell them
what is happening. If they don't believe
you, keep telling until someone does
believe you.

19.  The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
1-800-4-A-CHILD is dedicated to the
prevention of child abuse. Serving the
United States, its territories, and
Canada, the Hotline is staffed 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week with professional crisis
counselors who, through interpreters, can
provide assistance in 170 languages. The
Hotline offers crisis
intervention, information, literature, and
referrals to thousands of emergency, social
service, and support resources. All calls are
anonymous and confidential.

20.  I was about six years old when my oldest
brother got mad because I told on him for
playing rough with one of his friends and
me. I didn’t know he had a bad side to
him, I just thought that he was a normal kid
that picked on his sister. But from that point
on he sexually abused me day in and day
out. I finally got through to someone when I
was 13 and moved in with a friend at 14. I
have been on my own ever since and am
now attending college and doing well.

21.  The abuse would begin the minute my father left the
house. We would still be in bed and our stepmother would
whip us with a belt to get us up and ready for school. She
would make us get dressed and have breakfast. I would
be crying and she would grab me and hold me against
the wall with a spoon in one hand and a knife in the other
and force and threaten me to eat or she would kill me.
Once, as she forced the cereal in my mouth it caused me
to gag and I started to throw up and cry. With the knife in
her hand, she wielded it at me and I got so scared she
stabbed me in the arm. As I cried and begged for her to
stop, she grabbed a soiled pamper that belonged to my
infant sister and proceeded to make a sandwich with
feces and told me if I did not eat my cereal I would have
to eat the sandwich. The abuse continued throughout the
years until I was 15 and she left. By rose