Okay, I’m sure we all don’t have perfect parents. Some 
of us may think our parents are dorky, funny looking, 
or embarrassing. But you know that they are there for 
you.
 
There are many teens out there whose parent’s aren’t 
there for them.

I met an 18-year-old girl, who I’ll call Eva. She has 
suffered from domestic violence her whole life. Teens 
like Eva want attention from their parents. It doesn’t 
matter how they look, dress or anything as long as 
they are receiving the love and attention from 
them. “All I ever wanted was to just feel loved by my 
parents, but I guess that’s too much to ask for,” she 
says.

Many of these teens are being abused in numerous ways. 
In a survey of 6,000 American families, 50% of the men 
who assaulted their wives also abused their kids. 
Between 3.3 and 10 million children go through some 
form of domestic violence. This is a lot of kids!

Being abused can affect you mentally. “It’s affected 
me really bad and I’ve done things that I’ve 
regretted, I’ve ran away, done drugs, been sexually 
active and more,” says Eva. “I have also dropped out 
of high  school, and got pregnant,” she adds.

NOBODY deserves to be treated like this.
It is hard to realize that you are being abused, 
especially if it’s been happening to you for a 
while. “I hate my parents, I’ve never felt loved or 
wanted by them, my mom’s afraid of standing up to my 
dad so she just takes it all out on me,” says 
Eva. “Because of my mom being afraid it’s caused her 
to force me to have an  abortion.” 

Being abused may cause you to have trouble sleeping, 
eating, and concentrating; many don’t care about 
school or life. The ones who are abused often blame 
themselves for why they are being hit. Usually the 
person who is abusing threatens the person by 
saying, “If you say anything I will hurt you more.” 
Or, “Say something and I’ll kill your mother.”

But being scared and doing nothing is worse. “My 
advice to anyone out there, if you are being abused 
by  anyone, is to get help…before it’s too late,” Eva 
says. “There are people that do listen and will help 
you.”