35 www.rnca.ca Emotional Abuse continued Reproduced from the Department of Justice publication Child Abuse is Wrong: What Can I Do? without affiliation or endorsement of the Government of Canada. What does it look like? Emotional abuse happens when a person uses words or actions to control, frighten, isolate, or take away a child's self-respect and sense of worth. Emotional abuse is sometimes called psychological abuse. It can include: • putting a child down or humiliating a child •constantly criticizing a child •constantly yelling at a child •threatening to harm a child or others • keeping a child from seeing their family or friends without good reason, or •threatening to move a child out of their home. Emotional abuse is serious. Inner wounds can take a long time to heal. Some forms of emotional abuse are crimes in Canada, including: • threatening to harm a child • threatening to harm another person • threatening to destroy the child's personal property • threatening to hurt the child's pet • harassing the child on the telephone • deliberately intimidating a child, and • advising a child to commit suicide. Other forms of emotional abuse are not crimes, but they are still very serious. The provinces and territories also have laws that protect children from emotional abuse. These laws protect children even if the type of abuse is not a crime. Children who see or hear family violence Children can also suffer emotional abuse from seeing or hearing violence between other family members. Even if they don't see or hear the violence, they can be affected by seeing the results of the violence. It can be very hard for children to see or hear family violence even if they are not being physically hurt themselves. They will probably feel scared and insecure. www.justice.gc.ca
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