It's never pleasant, but sometimes characters will go as far as to hurt a child, either physically, emotionally, neglectfully, or sexually.
Subcategories:
- Abandoned War Child: A child born during a war is left alone or to a single mother due to the circumstances of the war.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: A girl becomes an underage mother, often through sexual abuse.
- Abuse Discretion Shot: When abuse (including child abuse) is not fully shown onscreen.
- Abusive Offspring: A child who abuses their parents is likely to have been abused by their parents previously.
- Abusive Parents: The most common cause of child abuse, the parents who physically, verbally, emotionally, or even sexually abuse their own children.
- Pimping the Offspring: A parent pimps out their own children.
- Abusive Alien Parents: Aliens don't have better parenting skills either.
- Affair? Blame the Bastard: Abusing a child who was a product of a spouse's adultery.
- Adults Are Useless: For when adults are ignorant of the misfortunes suffered by a child or responsible for them.
- Artistic License – Child Labor Laws: Child labor is a form of abuse where children are forced to do jobs that deprive them of their childhoods.
- Babysitter from Hell: When babysitters aren't the ones taking the brunt of their charge's unruly behavior, they're the ones beating the snot out of the charge.
- Big Brother Bully: The younger sibling who is getting abused by their older sibling is most likely to be a child.
- Boarding School of Horrors: Away from the protection of their parents, students will be psychologically and/or physically abused by their teachers, and fellow students.
- The Bully: Bullies can and often do cause harm to children, sometimes as a result of being abused themselves.
- Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil
- Child Eater: Someone who eats children.
- Child Hater: A person who hates children is liable to try and harm them.
- Child Soldiers: Children that are sent to fight in a war, and will suffer psychologically if they manage to survive.
- Childhood Brain Damage: Although not always done intentionally, abusers can inflict head injury on children.
- Children as Pawns: Using children for one's own advantages.
- Children Forced to Kill: A child is forced to kill someone, often against their will.
- Corporal Punishment: Physical punishments, particularly in the context of children being hit by their parents or teachers for (real or perceived) misbehavior, has long been argued to be a form of violent (child) abuse.
- Corruption of a Minor: Encouraging children to take things for themselves or hurt others for their own gain will result in the creation of future criminals.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Child abuse in someone's childhood can grant them tragic backstories.
- Daycare Nightmare: A daycare center has abusive caretakers.
- Death of a Child: If the death was homicidal, it very much qualifies as abuse.
- Delusions of Parental Love: A child believes that their abusive, neglectful, or absent parents really do love them.
- Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: The same kind of violence performed by children on adults would be viewed as horrifying if done the other way around.
- Eats Babies: An evil character purposely eats an infant child.
- Empathy Doll Shot: A child's death will be symbolized by a nearby, usually damaged, toy they used to play with.
- Ephebophile: An adult with a rather unwholesome interest in underage teenagers.
- Evil Orphan: An orphaned child who went down a dark path, most likely due to their dead parents' abuse.
- The Fagin: A villain trains children to steal for them.
- Fille Fatale: Young girls acting in a sexually charged way is often a sign they were sexually abused.
- Foster Kid: A child who is taken into foster custody as a result of abuse from their biological parents.
- Freudian Excuse: Abusers whose actions stem from abuse suffered in their own childhoods.
- Gruesome Grandparent: A grandparent that abuses their grandchild(ren)
- Harmful to Minors: Something that adults are immune to affects children dramatically.
- Hide Your Children: Oftentimes children are protected and sheltered during times of apocalyptic crises.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Child abuse Played for Laughs.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Anthropomorphic creatures kidnap babies.
- Jailbait Taboo: The controversy centered around sexualizing minors, particularly older teenage girls.
- Juvenile Hell: The fictional version of juvenile hall is a lot more treacherous than the Real Life version.
- Kid Amid the Chaos: An abandoned young child is shown crying in response to a crisis.
- Kids Are Cruel: Kids who are downright abusive to each other or younger kids, who may be having issues at home.
- Lecherous Step Parent: The stepparent who sexually abuses their stepchild.
- Mal Mariée: A young woman, which can include an underage teenage girl, will be married off to a much older man who will keep her locked up in his home, forbidding her from going outside so as to prevent her from escaping.
- Offing the Offspring: Parent kills their child.
- Old Man Marrying a Child: Someone who is too young to consent will be forced to be married against their will.
- Pædo Hunt: Some adults have a very creepy interest in children.
- Pedophile Priest: This supposed holy man of God sexually abuses children.
- Parental Incest: Illegal sexual behavior involving children and their family members.
- Parent-Induced Extended Childhood: A parent ensures that their child cannot grow up, usually without their consent, frequently in order to prevent them from leaving them.
- Parental Neglect: A form of emotional child abuse in which the children's needs are not being met by their parents.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: A machine needs to do something horrible, particularly stealing orphan children's blood, in order to properly operate.
- The Runaway: Kid runs away from their abusive home.
- Rape as Backstory: Although also completely capable of extending to adults, it's common for childhood sexual abuse to affect a person as they get older.
- Sadist Teacher: Teachers who treat their students harshly.
- Sucky School: A school where the staff is coldhearted to the students.
- Teen Hater: A person who hates teenagers is liable to try and harm them.
- Teen Pregnancy: While fully possible to result from unprotected sex with a consenting close-in-age boy, sexual abuse/rape is a very common cause of pregnancy in female adolescent minors.
- Teens Are Monsters: Teenagers' risky behavior can often result from abuse.
- Treated Worse than the Pet: Someone (usually a child, but not always) is so unloved by their family that animals are treated better than they are.
- Trophy Child: Children are exploited to keep their parents' social standing in line.
- Troubled Child: Child has a tragic backstory that serves as a Freudian Excuse.
- Troubled Teen: Teenager has a tragic backstory that serves as a Freudian Excuse.
- Troubled Toybreaker: An abused, neglected or otherwise troubled child vents their anger by destroying toys.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Children engaging in adult-oriented behavior often manifests from abuse.
- Tyke Bomb: A child is raised from birth to assist a villain.
- Would Hurt a Child: A character who willingly causes physical harm to a young child.
