When Kids are Victims of Crime
At Kids Matter we want to be your partner in helping your child recover after a crime. Whether the crime was against your child, the child witnessed a crime, or the child lost a loved one to crime there will be a recovery process. We are here to help.
You can use the information in the Child Abuse and Neglect, Violence in the Home, and Internet Violence pages to help you start to understand the crime and what you can do. Next you may want to try and determine whether your child shows signs of trauma and how you can help the child recover from trauma. We also have information about grief and healing.
Finally, take a look at our frequently asked questions, resources and stories pages for a better idea of how we can help you help your child heal.
When Kids with Disabilities are Victims of Crime
If you believe a child with a disability is a victim of a crime, report the crime the same you would for any other child. o are victims of crime do not tell. Sometimes this is because they don’t know that the abuse can be reported or that they can get help. Like many children, they might be afraid to tell because of fear of being taken from their home, blamed for what happened or that they might get in trouble. Sometimes they don’t tell because they never learned that this kind of touch or behavior is wrong and/or don’t know the words to describe what happened to them.
Responding to abuse of people with disabilities
- Believe the person who reports the abuse.
- Pay attention to injury, sudden changes in behavior or mood, changes in communication, or change in sleeping or eating patterns, as these can be signs of possible abuse.
- If you are told about abuse or suspect abuse, take action.
- Create a document and write down when you first suspected abuse or neglect, what the signs were, dates of injuries or other changed appearances and where on the body you saw them, and what occurred for the person’s safety plan
Content Credit: Kid’s Matter Inc. http://kidsmatterinc.org