~ABUSE~ Breaking the silence...   At least 1.8 million women are battered each year in the U.S.   90% of battered women report that their children have witnessed the battering.   In 30% of cases of abuse against women, children are also abused.   Between 2,000 and 4,000 women are beaten to death each year in the U.S.   80% of men who batter commit no other crime. Your Bill of Rights... This is your bill of rights...don't let anyone take them away from you! You have the right to be you. You have the right to put yourself first. You have the right to be safe. You have the right to love and be loved. You have the right to be treated with respect. You have the right to be human ~ not perfect. You have the right to be angry and protest if you are treated unfairly or abusively by anyone. You have the right to your own privacy. You have the right to have your own opinions, to express them, and to be taken seriously. You have the right to earn and control your own money. You have the right to ask questions about anything that affects your life. You have the right to make decisions that affect you. You have the right to grow and change, and this includes changing your mind. You have the right to say no. You have the right to make mistakes. You have the right not to be responsible for other adults' problems. You have the right not to be liked by everyone. You have the right to control your own life and to change it if you are not happy with it as it is. Abuse takes on many forms. Physical abuse, mental abuse, child abuse and spouse abuse, just to name a few. I have two sections to this page...one section dealing with child abuse...one section dealing with spouse abuse. Most of the pages are poems or stories, but hopefully they get the point across. Below are numbers to Hotlines. If there is ANY type of abuse going on, PLEASE call these numbers, or get help somewhere.  Let's break the silence... Child Abuse Spouse Abuse National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)   National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453 Parents Anonymous 1-800-554-2323 Comments? To return to Beth's Pages... Background set by... ~Page designed by Beth~ ~I just want you to know who I am~