Indications of Sexual Abuse
Any severe changes in a child's behavior should be regarded carefully as potential signs of abuse or other trauma. The Child Abuse Team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center recommends that caregivers and health care professionals specifically look for:
- Injury / trauma to genital area
- Torn, stained or bloodied underclothing
- Itching in genital area
- Sexually transmitted disease
- New fears of persons or places
- Withdrawn behavior
- Sexual play beyond what is considered normal
- Sleep problems or nightmares
- Unusual aggressiveness
- Fear that something is wrong with the genital area
Disclosure of abuse may be a process that occurs over time. Be conscious not to shut the door when a child begins to tell you about abuse. Instead, ask questions such as "Can you tell me more about that?" Stress that the abuse is not the child's fault.
If you suspect a child is being sexually abused, please contact the child's physician, 513-241-KIDS or the Social Services Department at Cincinnati Children's, 513-636-4711.
You can download a Child Sexual Abuse Fact Sheet or a Physical and Behavioral Indicators of Abuse Fact Sheet in a portable document format (.pdf).
You must have Adobe Acrobat" Reader installed on your computer to read these files.
You can download Adobe Acrobat" Reader at Adobe's Web site by selecting the version appropriate for your type of computer.
