If you or someone you love is experiencing abuse, you deserve support and there are resources available.

If you suspect you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911. Not sure? Use the danger risk assessment to assess your risk based on the highest indicators for intimate partner or family homicide.

Sibling Abuse Resources


Sibling Aggression and Abuse Research and Advocacy Initiative (SAARA)

  • Visit unh.edu/saara to learn more about sibling abuse with resources for siblings, parents, and professionals.

Sibling Sexual Trauma 

5WAVES: Confronting and Healing Sibling Sexual Trauma 

  • Visit 5waves.org to join Discord support communities with channels for survivors, parents, and friends of survivors (partners, other family members, grandparents, friends, and loved ones). 

Child Help USA 

  • Call or text HELP to 800-422-4453 (800-4-A-CHILD) or open a chat at childhelphotline.org.

  • 24/7 child abuse hotline with live crisis counselors who can provide information on how to identify or report child abuse with a database of over 10,000 national, local, and international resources and interpretation services in 170 languages.

RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) 

  • Call 800-656-4673 (800-656-HOPE) or open a chat at rainn.org.

  • 24/7 National Sexual Assault Hotline that can provide resources and referrals with connections to more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers. 

Stop It Now! 

  • Call 1-888-773-8368 (1-888-PREVENT) or open a chat at stopitnow.org.

  • Helpline for anyone with questions or concerns about child sexual abuse. 

What’s OK? 

  • Call 844-942-8765 (844-WHATSOK), text WHATSOK to 1-888-532-0550, or open a chat at whatsokay.org.

  • Youth helpline for anyone ages 14-21 with concerns about their own or a friend’s sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. 

National Domestic Violence Hotline 

  • Call 800-799-7233 (800-799-SAFE), text START to 88788, or open a chat at thehotline.org. 

  • 24/7 hotline you can call to get support for yourself or a loved one experiencing domestic violence with trained advocates who can link you to local resources and help with safety planning. 

National Runaway Safeline 

  • Call 1-800-786-2929 (1-800-RUNAWAY) or open a chat at 1800runaway.org. 

  • 24/7 safeline for young people who are thinking about running away from home or who have already run away. 

1in6 

  • Visit 1in6.org for support for men who have been sexually abused, sexually assaulted, or had an unwanted sexual experience including weekly online support groups.  



Domestic Violence Resources


Am I in an abusive relationship?
*If you’re not sure if you’re experiencing abuse, learn about red flags, emotional abuse, and different types of abuse. Take the Is my relationship healthy? quiz for more clarity. Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft is also a great self-help book.

Find local resources like advocacy organizations and shelters.


National Domestic Violence Hotline

  • Call 1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or chat online.

National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline (love is respect)

National LGBT Hotline

Child Help USA (National Child Abuse Hotline)

  • Call 1-800-422-4453 or visit the National Child Abuse Hotline website. Professional crisis counselors can share how to document and report potential cases of child abuse, advocate for kids, and refer families to local treatment centers.

Victim Connect Resource Center

  • If you need to seek help for stalking or other crimes, call the Victim Connect Resource Center at 1-855-484-2846. Victim assistance specialists can help you consider whether to report a crime or seek justice through the courts and help you find legal resources in your area.  

FORGE: Transgender Sexual Assault and Dating Violence Resource

Culturally-responsive organizations

Sexual Assault Resources


National Sexual Assault Hotline

  • Call 800-656-4673 (800-656-HOPE) or open a chat at rainn.org.

Safe Helpline

  • Call 877-995-5247 or visit the Safe Helpline website for sexual assault survivor support for Department of Defense (DoD) community.


FAQs About Sibling Abuse


What’s the difference between sibling abuse and sibling rivalry? The difference lies in the intent of one sibling to harm the other and the intensity and frequency of the hurtful behavior. Sibling rivalry can promote healthy competition, conflict resolution, and boundary negotiations, while sibling abuse only causes harm and often causes one sibling to fear the other. Abusive situations also often involve the exploitation of power dynamics like a large age difference or gender norms in the family that empower boys and disempower girls. Learn more from SAARA.

What’s the difference between sibling sexual abuse and harmless exploration? Like physical and emotional abuse, sibling sexual abuse involves the exploitation of power dynamics like differences in age, gender, size, strength, cognitive ability, and relative status in the family. While children who are exploring their bodies in age-appropriate ways stop when you ask them to, those who are abusive often perpetrate harm in secretive and coercive ways, such as while parents are not home or while they’re sleeping. Pressure, manipulation, and threats keep survivors silent—often for years. Learn more from SAARA.



What are the benefits and risks of disclosing sibling sexual abuse as an adult? Get insight from survivor-researcher Risa Shaw in Psychology Today.


Recommended Reading


On identifying abusive behavior in a partner: Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

On childhood trauma and complex PTSD: Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman 

On sibling sexual abuse from the survivor’s point of view: Jane Epstein’s I Feel Real Guilty, Alice Perle’s Resolve, and Risa Shaw’s anthology Not Child’s Play

On intimate partner violence and homicide: No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

On ongoing challenges after leaving an abusive relationship: Whatever Happened to ____? by Anonymous: “One can’t give readings when there’s a person out there willing to do you bodily harm. It’s dangerous to have your image on a poster or an event’s site, to advertise that you’ll be anywhere, at all, standing alone at a podium or on stage, at a specific time and place.”

On hope for a better future: This Is Our Moment by Cori Bush

On physical partner abuse: It Will Look Like a Sunset by Kelly Sundberg

On criminalization of domestic violence survivors: Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense?  by Rachel Louise Synder

On abuse and family courts: Propublica’s Parental Alienation series

On digital abuse: Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet by Amanda Hess

On the complexity of loving an abusive partner: As a Survivor of Partner Violence, I Saw Myself in Grace Fraser by Melanie Hamlett— “... abuse is enabled by our attachment to this longing for duality, this world vision of monsters versus good guys, instead of a spectrum of sickness and health.”

On abusers who are cops: What If Your Abusive Husband Is a Cop? by Rachel Aviv