Many children in America go under mental and emotional abuse everyday from their own families. Some families don't see what they do as mental or emotional abuse or just chose not to believe that they can cause it. I have many friends who under go mental and emotional abuse from their own families and they feel trapped and that there is no hope of getting away from it. The issue is that most of them are not old enough to legally move out of the household and child abuse laws do not recognize mental and emotional abuse as real abuse. Only if its physical abuse do they do anything to help the child/minor in my opinion mental and emotional abuse can cause just as much damage to a child/minor as physical abuse if not sometimes worse. For example mental and emotional abuse can lead to anxiety, depression, and trust issue's I myself have seen the effects on some of my closest friends. I believe the child protective courts need to recognize this is just as serious and has longer terms of effect then physical abuse.
