"Mum always shouted a lot and would get really angry with us.
Not all the time though. Sometimes she’d give us cuddles, play with
us, buy us things. But when she got angry sometimes she’d hit
us.
One time she hit my brother so hard that he had bruises and
couldn’t sit down. Sometimes she pulled my hair. She’d break things
and throw things at us when she was angry. Once she’d hit me and
knocked me over, I cut my head, there was a lot of blood – she got
upset and took me to hospital. She told me to tell the doctors I’d
been fighting.
A few times we went to the doctor's and had to tell them we’d
hurt ourselves playing when really mum had hit us. We were both
scared of her at times because we never knew when she’d get angry.
My brother was always really quiet, he didn’t like to upset her –
his teachers thought he was depressed. I tried to run away but was
scared to leave her – she seemed so sad and I was worried about
leaving my brother on his own.
Mum said if we told anyone the social workers would take us
away. She said she’d stop hitting us. My PE teacher found out about
it, she was really nice. She noticed the bruises on my arms and
legs – I didn’t tell her right away but when I did she said she
needed to make sure me and my brother were safe. She told a social
worker – mum was angry at first but then just cried. The social
worker didn’t take us away – they helped mum and talked to me and
my brother; our social worker is really nice and takes us out. I’m
glad someone found out."