Violence and Abuse in Families

1. VIOLENCE AND ABUSE IN
FAMILIES
A person is more likely to
be abused by a member of
their family than anyone
else.
Jessica
Wright

2. WHAT IS FAMILY ABUSE?
Family abuse comes in many forms
It can include:
 Physical abuse
 Emotional abuse
Each of these can happen to a person of any age from child to senior

3. WHAT IS FAMILY ABUSE?
“Child abuse- the physical or
mental injury, sexual abuse,
negligent treatment of a child
under the age of 18 by a person
who is responsible for the child’s
welfare.” (Holmes, 162)
“Intimate partner violence- actual
or threatened violent crimes
committed against person by
their current or former spouses,
boyfriends, or girlfriends”
(Holmes 153)
“Elder abuse- the physical or
psychological abuse, financial
exploitation, or medical abuse or
neglect of the elderly.” (Holmes 165)

4. WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE?
Family is supposed to take care
of each other
 The main societal group that
Canadian’s are supposed to be able to
trust
Cost to society
 According to the Government of
Canada abuse costs Canadians $7.4
billion a year (Department of Justice,
2015)
 This equals out to $225 per Canadian
citizen
 This cost is broken up into three parts
 Victims- for medical attention and lost wages
 Third party services- social workers and services
 Justice system costs

5. STATISTICS ON FAMILY ABUSE
Spousal Abuse Child Abuse Elder Abuse
7% of men and 8% of
women in Canada have
reported being abused by
their spouse(Holmes 154)
In 2009, 55 000 Canadian
youth were sexually or
physically assaulted
(Statistics Canada 7)
4 of every 10 cases of
abuse against seniors
involved some sort of
physical violence (Statistics
Canada 8)
78% of incidences of
spousal abuse were never
reported to police in 2009
(Statistics Canada 7)
In 85% of reported
incidences, children were
abused by someone close
to them, 6 in 10 were
abused by their parents
(Statistics Canada 7)
1/3 of all elder abuse is
committed by a family
member (Statistics Canada
7)

6. WHAT DOES PHYSICAL ABUSE
LOOK LIKE?
If someone is being physically
abused they may have the
following:
 Bruises
 Cuts
 Pressure marks
Those who are victims of
physical abuse often make
excuses for their injuries-
including accidents such as
tripping
Physical abuse can also include
sexual abuse (Smith 2015) and
A victim may also cut off close
family and friends
Wear longer clothing to cover
bruises
May seem fearful of
disappointing their partner or
family member

7. WHAT DOES EMOTIONAL ABUSE
LOOK LIKE?
May be fearful of disappointing
family or partner
Personality may change
 Becomes more withdrawn from society
May cut off close friends and
family
Have low self esteem
Emotional abuse includes
financial abuse

8. CYCLE OF ABUSE
When a spouse or
family member is
stuck in the cycle of
abuse, it can be very
hard for them to
break the cycle.
Incident
Any type of abuse
occurs
Tension Building
Abuser starts to get
angry
Abused tries to keep
other party calm
Making-Up
Abuser might
apologize for abuse
May make promise it
will never happen
again
Can blame abused
Calm
Abuser acts as though
everything is fine and
that no abuse took
place
Victim may feel as
though the cycle has
ended
(Domestic Violence 2015)

9. CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE
Men often earn more money that their wives. This can be due to child
bearing and women taking more time to raise children. This creates
an unbalance of power between man and woman.
The man is often seen as the “owner” of his family and when another
person threatens that status, he may use force, physically or verbally
to gain back the power.

10. WHY DOES FAMILY ABUSE
HAPPEN?
Women are more likely to
suffer from abuse than men
Women are learning that they no
longer want to follow the
patriarchy system and that may
create a conflict
The male partner may feel the
need to discipline his spouse as
he feels she is his property, he
“wins by intimidation” (Du Bois
1998)
Children also suffer
If children act out, the male may
also feel that it is his duty to
discipline because he is the
“leader” of the family
Often if a family is living in a
lower social class, children are
more likely to be abused, by their
mother or their father
Children are most likely to be
neglected by their parents. This
can include not providing
adequate food, water, shelter,
hygiene, and health (CAS Ottawa
2015)

11. WHY SHOULD SOCIETY CARE?
Abuse of a family effects everyone in society. In order for society to
continue running properly, all individuals must have self worth and
contribute. When someone is abused a common trait is to back away
from all those close to them. This blocks them off from society and in
some cases they can no longer contribute.
Abused children may have a hard time maintaining relationships in
their future, effecting future generations.
Abused adults may miss or stop working altogether. This allows the
abuser to have complete control while forcing the abused to withdraw
from society

12. WHY SHOULD SOCIETY CARE
Taking care of abuse victims costs money.
In a child’s case, if the abuse is bad enough, they may be removed
from the home. If there is no other family to take care of them, they
may be relocated into foster care(CAS Ottawa 2015).
If an adult tries to leave an abuse situation, they may seek
government assistance. This can include counselling, either individual
or family, or justice services. Victims may also seek more medical
assistance than the average person.
All of this costs taxpayers. If society were to put in more of an effort
to eliminate family abuse, it’s possible that a portion of the money
used to support abuse victims could be put to use elsewhere. It would
take money at first to set up more secure programs, but would pay
off in the end.

13. WHAT CAN SOCIETY DO?
Provide support to someone
who may be abused
 Society as a whole can look for warning
signs in those close to them
 Allow the abused to gain more power
on their end to stop the abuse cycle,
by involving authorities if necessary
(Du Bois 1998)
 Volunteer at a local shelter or
Children’s Aid society. By seeing the
abused first hand, it may change
persepctives
Society needs to change
 As a society, we need to learn that the
abuse, especially of women and
children (as it is more prominent) is
unacceptable.
 It is embedded in our society that the
male has control of the household,
however all of society needs to learn
that this has changed and that the
patriarchy is becoming nonexistent.

14. WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?
In order to help eliminate abuse in families, there are many resources
in society. By investing into these resources now, it will allow for less
issues in the future and will eventually pay itself off. Some programs
include:
 Local Shelters
 Children’s Aid Society
 Some may also find help from religious communities
 Doctor’s and nurses- to provide care and advice
 Although it may be hard, friends and family of the abused need to make themselves
available to the abused if they decide to make a change
 Many provinces have help lines that can set a victim up with advice for change
(Department of Justice 2015)

15. REFERENCES
CAS Ottawa. (2015). FAQ. Retrieved from http://www.casott.on.ca/en/faq/
Department of Justice. (2015). About Family Violence. Retrieved from
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/fv-vf/about-apropos.html
Department of Justice. (2015). Get Help with Family Violence. Retrieved from
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/fv-vf/help-aide.html
Domestic Violence Organization. (2015) Cycle of Violence. Retrieved from
http://www.domesticviolence.org/cycle-of-violence/
Du Bois W. (1998) Implications for Programs and Prevention. Retrieved from
http://censorshipamericanstyle.com/battering.html
Holmes, M., & Mooney, L. (2016). Understanding social problems (Fifth Canadian ed.).
Smith, M. (October 2015). Domestic Violence and Abuse. Retrieved from
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/domestic-violence-and-abuse.htm#emotional
Statistics Canada. (2009) Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile.Retrieved from
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-224-x/85-224-x2010000-eng.pdf