What makes children and adolescents vulnerable?
Children and adolescents depend upon the care and protection of the adults in their lives as they grow and develop. When they are young, children’s trust in and dependence on adults, their need for attention and affection, their limited understanding, immature reasoning skills, and lack of physical strength can make them vulnerable to abuse. Although adolescents continue to need the guidance and support of adults, they become more focused on peer relationships and tend to have less direct supervision from parents and caregivers. The desire for independence may lead adolescents to engage in behaviours-such as going places they are not allowed to go-that increase their risk for being physically or sexually assaulted. An adolescent who has defied a parental rule and is subsequently assaulted can become entrapped in an abusive situation, afraid of getting into trouble if he/she reports. Children and adolescents with disabilities are considered to be at higher risk for both physical and sex
