TEENS ANGER: CHILDREN ABUSED IN FOSTER CARE

There are any number of different abusive situations, as families become more and more abusive with each other. I will limit my comments to the abuse of children. The three most prevalent forms of child abuse are physical, sexual and emotional or psychological. The physical abuse frequently is detected by either the schools or doctors. The child may complain of any number of things that are annoying them. I have seen cases of horrible mutilation from cigarette burns over a good part of the body to broken bones and anything in between. Physical abuse may sometimes take the form of over zealous spankings (switches, belts, etc.). Frequently children who have been physically abused are extremely angry because they have no way of getting back at their abuser and must live with the pain without retaliation. They are also generally very, very angry. That anger frequently takes either of two directions:

1. Unreasonable reactions which may take the form of hysterics -- or --

2. ’Clamming up’ completely with responses to questions which are little more than grunts.