Zahra's father died of drug abuse in prison and her mother was imprisoned for illegal drug possession. Zahra is only 16 but the responsibility of taking care of her three brothers and sisters fell on her shoulders. Since she couldn't handle it alone, she turns to some "experienced person", hoping that things may become better. Instead, every thing worsened.

Zahra has no experience in child upbringing. She starts being violent to her small sister and brother. Her 30-year-old 'friend' has doubled the violence. In this case, the small hands of a child commit child abuse. Leila Arshad, head of the Board of Directors, Association of Children's Rights' Protection, said, "110 cases of child abuse have been registered in the center, since the beginning of the Iranian year (which started March 21). In 35 cases, the father was involved while 20 cases were related to mothers. In 16 cases, children were abused by both parents, 71 percent were real parents."

Arshad went on to say that 44 percent of child abuse victims were girls and 56 percent were boys.

Abbas Aqa-Beigloo, a pathologist, said that most of the people believe that Child abuse is limited to home and family. But that is not the case, adding that it mostly happens outside the home. Exploitation of street children in different gangs is known as a child abuse outside the home.

Referring to children stowaways, he cited that these children are predisposed to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. He mentioned another form of child abuse that which is related to child laborers. The latter is rare in Iran.

Another type of child abuse is related to incidents in the society, involving children of immigrant families. Aqa-Beigloo said that Iran has no definite regulations for children of immigrant families. Afghan children can be cited as a good example.

"Neglected and badly-treated children are other types suffering from child abuse. Children whose parents are in prison and are deprived of family support, undoubtedly, need to be supported by the government," Aqa-Beigloo added. Deficiency in the educational method and system can be another type of child abuse. Fatemeh Qassemzadeh, a psychologist, said, "The content of textbooks; the treatment of the students in schools which focuses on extensive competition and emphasis on memory are considered as child abuse."

She underlined that imposition and compulsion in learning; ignoring individual differences are considered as child abuse in training.

"Psychological and physical health are threatened, due to child abuse. These injuries are not limited to childhood, but may mean some negative consequences in the future," she added.