How do you truly know what someone is going through? Do Parents truly care for their children? Do you know someone that is or has been abused? A report of child abuse is made around every ten seconds. For every reported case of child abuse, two more go unreported. 

On October 29th a case was reported of a boy being beaten and left in his laundry room to die. This poor 12 year old boy named Noah, passed from the abuse he faced. While the father did report the death five days later, he tried to say that his son died in his sleep. When police officers arrived, they found out the truth. According to People.com, It was said at a press conference that “obvious forms of trauma, evidence of trauma and more disturbingly he had been there for some time”. The family then went on vacation with Jason, the father, and Samarial, the stepmother, along with their other kids left and went on a vacation while leaving Noah home alone to die along with their house dog. While this investigation is still ongoing, it was found that this family had three other children who are currently trying to be located. Jason Godleski, the 33 year old father, is currently facing the charge of manslaughter of a child and failure to report the death. It is found likely that this is not the parents first time abusing their son. In March 2020, there was an allegation that one of the teacher placed that Noah was a victim of child abuse. With the suspect of the case now and the girlfriend being the abusers. But the department was never contacted and the case ended up being unfounded. It was even found that a phone called was made to another family member from Godleski confessing to the child abuse. This was found by an investigator where Godleski said “we hit him too hard in the face and the back of the head and left him dead…” While this is just one form of child abuse, this is something that happens to children daily.

Facts about abuse

• 1 in every 7 children are suspected to face child abuse in the last year
• Neglection is the most common form of child abuse 
• As of 2018, around 16 percent of children were found to have experienced a form of maltreatment 
• If a child has faced child abuse they have a 13 percent chance of the likelihood hat they wont graduate from high school
• If a child survives child abuse, there adult years are more likely to be faced with health difficulties including PTSD, bipolar disorder, depression, and substance disorders etc. 
• In 2018, 76% of child abuse perpetrators were a parent to their victim

Quotes from children in child abuse 

“ There were times I had nowhere to go” -Leila

“ I felt guilty that the bullies had chosen me” -James 

“ I didn’t feel I was in control of my life” – Annie

“ It was hard to pretend everything was okay” -Sioned

“ I felt worthless and ugly” – sally
Quotes from https://www.nspcc.org

After talking with two different students from the school, I found out what there thoughts were on abuse. First I talked with Kennedy Sandy and she stated “ I think people misunderstand that when you are a victim to abuse its harder to tell someone rather that just saying nothing. And a lot of people become unsympathetic and want them to get help or speak out right away”. Another student I talked with named Paige Wagner stated “I’m not sure if I can think of anyone that I know of being abused but I think abuse is a terrible thing. If someone gets in trouble you should just have a talk with them but sometimes people take it farther and start to abuse others. Some people might not be able to forget about what happened to them and it sticks with them forever”. 

Abuse is a real thing. It can come in so many different forms. Verbal abuse is still abuse. Along with physical, sexual, mental, and more. If you or anyone you know is being abused, talk to someone. Do not go quiet because you don’t think someone will believe you. You can also try the suspected child abuse hotline at 1-800-422-4453. You are not alone.