physical and verbal abuse

[Unregistered]

I'm 15 turning 16 in December, living in Florida and I've been beaten all my life. The weapons include things like cable wires, metal hangers, shoes and even kitchen utensil. I don't have a relationship with my mother. Infact I don't remeber her ever smiling at me. Everytime I complain about this people believe I'm over exaggerating because they see my parents as kind human beings. I called the police when I was 12 and lived in Virginia. But my grandmother was there and she denied everything I said so the police just left. I am the oldest of 6 kids and all of us et beaten except our youngest sister. But ofcourse the oldest will get beaten ore or at least thta's what they tell me. I have scars all over my body from getting beaten. My first sister who is 13 right now always tries to defend her self and then it all turns into and actual fist fight. I'm always to terrified to defend myself. But just last saturday my mother came downstairs to cook without me or my sister knowing it. She then screamed at us to come downstairs and proceeded to hit me. She began to pound me on my head threatening to kill me. After she had hit me to the floor she started screamin at me to get up ofcourse each time I tried she'd punch me right back down. That day I ended up with a cut on my lip for the fifth time this year, 3 bruises, a bump on my head (which is still sore), and yet another cut on my chest. My two youner brothers had cuts around their ears fro where she pinched them with her overly long nails. My first sister ofcourse tried to fight but ended up with a swollen lip. And this morning my mother had the audacity to ask my brother who is 6 where he got the cuts around his ear. Everyday she comes back from work she has an abuse word or two to say to me and/or a name to call me. In my extended family no one wants to believe me that it ever gets this bad because my parents are seen as the only 'good' christians in the family and the usual excuse is that our family is african and we're supposed to get 'spanked' as children. I keep praying that a neighbor will hear and call the police for me because I'm afraid of what they'll do to me if a social worker comes to our house on account of me telling a teacher (which has happened with my second sister before). I'm in the 11th grade but I can't wait two whole years to get out of this place. I need to leave now!!!!!!! Please help me.

[ccsmod14]

Re: physical and verbal abuse

Hi there,

Thank you so much for reaching out to us here at National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you have been going through really tough stuff at home and we are here to help you out the best that we can.

You shared a lot with us here and it is really good to see that you are taking any steps that you can to get help with everything that has been going on. You shared with us that you have been experiencing physical and verbal abuse from your mother at home. No one deserves to be abused in any way. You deserve to feel safe in your own home. How have you been dealing with everything that has been going on? It has got to be tough living at home and fearing if you are going to be hit by a guardian. Your feelings are completely understandable.

It sounds like your sister has told someone about what goes on at home before and a social worker came to your house. Which might mean someone called to make a Child Abuse Report with Child Protective Services. Did anything happen after this social worker came? It is understandable that you would be afraid to contact CPS, but we want to let you know that you do have a right to make an abuse report if you are experiencing abuse from a guardian. Here at National Runaway Safeline, we can talk through more of what the possibilities would be if you did make a report and we also could either make one with you on the line, on behalf of you or just provide you the correct number for your state. It sounds like you do not think that a lot of people in your life would believe what is happening at home. Have you ever taken pictures of your injuries, or recorded anything that has happened? If you did decide to call CPS, this is something they would ask you about as well.

It sounds like you really want to leave home and that is understandable. We are not here to tell you what to do; we are not going to tell you that you should leave home or that you should stay because you know your situation better than we do. All that we are going to do is try our best to help you stay safe in whatever decision you make. If you did leave home without your guardians' permission, do you know where you would go? If you call us at 1800runaway (786 2929), we can try to locate shelters close to you so that you are safe.
There are a few things that can be helpful to think about before leaving home:

What else can I do to improve my home situation before I leave?
What would make me stay at home?
How will I survive?
Is running away safe?
Who can I count on to help me?
Am I being realistic?
Have I given this enough thought?
What are my other options?
If I end up in trouble, who will I call?

Our line is anonymous and confidential, and we are 24/7 at 1800runaway. We also have a chat option available from the hours of 4:30pm to 11:30pm CST through our website at 1800runaway.org. We are here to support you in any way that we can.

Good luck and stay safe,
National Runaway Safeline
[email protected] (Crisis Email)
1-800-RUNAWAY (24 Hour Hotline)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NRSOnlineServicesSurvey

[Unregistered]

pictures

I recently took a few pictures of the cuts on my brothers' ears. When the social worker came my parents gave the same excuses ;that they are trained to 'spank' their children where they come from and my mom had this whole sob story ready to tell her. Our parents made all the older ones stay upstairs in our rooms while they talked. The problem is that recently I've not been able to cope. In the previous years I would have extracurricular activities and get involved in anything to stay out of the house longer but my father took me out of them. He enrolled me in rigorous classes durin my freshman year once we moved to florida and at first I was doing good. Then around that same time my mother decided to be a stay at home mom. So I would see her right before going to school and right after. Then my grades began to drop so I began to do track and field after school just to get away from her. My father eventually saw my grades and imediately pulled me out of sports thinking that my grades began failing when I got into sports meanwhile it was the other way around but I couldn't tell him. As far as I'm concerned my father is just as abusive as my mother it's just that he's rarely around.

[ccsmod12]

RE: pictures

It sounds like you have been taking some really smart proactive steps to remove yourself from the difficult siutation at home. You menationed that a social worker came by to check on you. Did you get a chance to talk to them? Our number one goal is to make sure that everyone that contacts us is safe. Do you think that you would be able to call us? Our hotline is open 24 hours and we are anonymous and confidential. Our holtine number is open 24 hours a day. If you can't get to a phone, you can also reach out to us via our live chat service. It is open from :4:30 PM - 11:30 PM CST. You can find it on our website, 1800ruanway.org. We hope to hear from you, and be safe.