Abuse and neglect can happen in a number of different ways. No one ever plans to abuse or neglect their own children, but generational cycles of abuse and neglect can create a foreign understanding of “normal.”
Trauma, Abuse and Neglect can happen from the combination of any of the following: poverty, death of primary caretaker, lack of parenting skills, untreated mental illness, physical illness, substance abuse
When young men are removed from their homes because they have experienced trauma with abuse or neglect, many of them leave thinking…
“This was my fault.”
“I deserved this.”
“This is who I am.”
The burden that these young men carry is the IDENTITY they find in their circumstances. Young men do not create these circumstances for themselves, but the circumstances still shape their identity.
This is why it can be the tendency for many young people to perpetuate the cycle of abuse and neglect if it is not stopped. They see this cycle as a part of who they are, because it is a part of their family.