Daniel's Story
Daniel is eight years old.
Until quite recently, he'd been a bright, keen and enthusiastic boy, always doing well at school, always with lots of friends around him. But something changed all that.
Suddenly, Daniel lacked energy. He was always tired at school and falling behind with his work. He didn't want to play with his friends. Sometimes he would even get quite aggressive towards them.
So, what had happened to make such a change in Daniel?
His father had left home and, unable to cope on her own, Daniel's mother had asked her brother (Daniel's uncle) to come and help them. For his mum it was good to have a man around the house - someone to support her. But for Daniel his worst nightmare had just started.
Daniel's uncle was a violent man with a short and aggressive temper, which often spilt over into physical abuse. He would often beat him repeatedly with a belt. His mother hated to see him being hurt, but she was too scared to get involved.
Daniel had so many bruises on his body that it was getting hard to hide them, but he didn't dare tell anybody because he thought his Uncle would be even worse to him if he found out.
One day at school Daniel was involved in a fight. Daniels shirt was torn and it was then that everyone saw the bruises - his teacher saw them too.
After that, things started to get better for Daniel.
With someone to turn to, Daniel told his teacher about the abuse he had suffered from his uncle and soon the social services got involved. Daniel's uncle was made to leave the house and assurances were made that he would never be allowed there again.
Daniel and his mother were given support and counselling from the NSPCC to help them come to terms with what had happened. Daniel is again the bright, keen and enthusiastic boy who always does well at school and who always had lots of friends around him.
Now he plays in the football team, works hard at school and he gets to see his dad whenever he wants to. Thank goodness he had someone to turn to.
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