BGU Conference on welfare of the child tackles pressing issues about child abuse and poverty (Israel)

Child victims of abuse should not pay a price for remaining silent, Supreme Court Justice Edna Arbel said.
She spoke during her opening speech at the Beersheba Conference on the Welfare of the Child, which took place on Monday and Tuesday at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
“We come across cases of the most serious violence – verbal, physical and sexual – of small babies, boys and girls and of course teenagers, by parents, grandparents, uncles and brothers. The family makes the minor a punching bag, deploys violence against him, sometimes hair-raising, or those that rely on the ability to intimidate their minor victim by weaving relationships of silence, by creating an atmosphere of fear, threats, and exploitation of the minor’s dependence on his family,” said Arbel.
The Supreme Court justice discussed how to “break the silence” of abused children and stressed the importance of awareness on the part of those closest to them, as well as neighbors, teachers and doctors.
...Some 500 people participated in the annual conference, in its 13th year, including youth, government ministers, judges and criminologists, as well as education, medical and social services professionals.

...Prof. Rachel Lev-Weisel, from the University of Haifa, reported findings that most abused children do not disclose their abuse.
According to Lev-Weisel, only 18 percent of Jewish children and 5% of Arab children told someone they had been abused, usually a family member or friend. Of the children who told someone, some 40% said nothing had changed since they sought help.

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/BGU-Conference-on-welfare-of-the-child-tackles-pressing-issues-about-child-abuse-and-poverty-341118