How to Seek Help when Experiencing or Witnessing Child Maltreatment

by: Anton Legaspi

The image shows a child seeking help. Written on the hand is “stop the abuse pretty please.” The image is a call to action for the viewers to acknowledge child abuse and take action in trying to solve this issue.

Whenever experiencing or witnessing child maltreatment, it is important to seek help and reach out. As the child experiencing maltreatment, it is important to know how to identify if the situation is an abuse. Abuse is not only limited to physical manifestations as there are other types of abuse such as neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and many more. Once it has been identified as an abuse, inform a trusted adult about the situation. Provide important information and details about the abuse to help the adults and the professionals understand the situation better. It is best to leave the responsibility to trusted adults or professionals since the child is a minority. In the situation that there is no trustworthy adult within reach, call the Department of Social Welfare & Development or the Child Health and Intervention and Protective Service (CHIPS) at their telephone number 734-4216 to report the abuse. In addition to this, there are other groups that may also help the child such as the Anti-Child Abuse, Discrimination, Exploitation Division (ACADED) and National Bureau of Investigation (Tel. Nos. 525-6028/525-8231 loc. 403 & 444), Commission on Human Rights Child Rights Center (Tel. No. 927-4033), Philippine National Police Operation Center (Tel. Nos. 712-8613/722-0540 & 724 8749) or nearest police station, and DOJ Task Force on Child Protection (Tel. Nos. 523-8481 to 89). On the other end, as a witness or a person with knowledge of the abuse, it is important to stay calm and supportive to the abused child. Hear out the child’s story and reassure them that they are not at fault in this situation. Do not pressure the child into forcing the truth out but rather allow them to explain the situation at their own pace. This would help the child relax and calm down as to not confuse and fluster the child while reporting the abuse. Upon hearing or witnessing the situation, to ensure proper action and the child’s safety, it is best to contact the professionals enumerated previously. By doing so, this would contribute to the breaking of the cycle of abuse and ending child maltreatment one child at a time.

Sources:

Photo: Abuse, R. S. (2016, June 17). Rprt Suspected Abuse (@dylansmoosie). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/dylansmoosie

Articles:Child Abuse and Neglect. (2020, February 4). Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect.htm.

FAQs. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.doj.gov.ph/child-protection-program.html

Lyness, D. A. (Ed.). (2013, September). How to Handle Abuse (for Kids) - Nemours KidsHealth. Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/handle-abuse.html