NEGLECTED CHILDREN

Seminarski rad iz kolegija Engleski jezik

1. Introduction
Child neglect is the most common form of child abuse in the USA. According to
the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), of the approximately
899,000 children in the United States who were victims of abuse and neglect in 2005,
62.8 % (564,765 children) suffered from neglect, including medical neglect. According
to NCANDS, 42.2 % of child abuse accidents in the United States in 2005 occurred as a
result of neglect only, 24.1 % as a result of physical abuse and neglect, and 27.3 percent
as a result of multiple types of abuse.

2. What is neglect?
Neglect is a type of abuse that refers to the failure by the people who care for
children to provide needed, age-appropriate care if they are financially able to do so or
offered financial or other means to do so. Parental and caregiving obligations include
the physical, emotional and educational well-being of the child. Neglect is usually
described by an continuous pattern of inadequate care and is easily observed by person
in close contact with the child. Neglect can happen when parent abandon the child, or
they simply have no time to spend with the child, so they are leaving the child to raise
himself. Some parents actually leave the child without supervision, it is certainly child
neglect as well.
Physicians, nurses, day care staff, relatives and neighbors are often the ones who
are supposed to suspect and report neglect in infants, toddlers and preschool children. If
children are in school, school employees have the obligation to notice signs of child
neglect such as poor hygiene, low weight gain, insufficient medical care or frequent
absences from school.
Unfortunately, neglect often goes unreported, and historically has not been
recognized or publicized as much as child abuse. Abuse often leaves visible bruises and
scars, but the signs of neglect tend to be less visible. However, the effect of neglect can
be just as damaging.
2.1.

Types of neglect
Professionals define four types of neglect physical, educational, emotional and
medical.
Physical neglect
Physical neglect accounts for the majority of cases of abuse. Physical neglect
generally involves the parent or caregiver not providing the child with basic needs
(food, clothing and shelter). Failure or refusal to provide these needs threaten the childs
physical health, well-being, psychological improvement and development.
Physical neglect also includes child insufficient supervision, rejection of a child and
failure to sufficiently provide childs safety, physical and emotional needs. Physical
neglect can have a bad impact on a childs development by causing failure to progress,

poor nutrition, some serious illness, physical harm in like cuts, bruises, burns or other
injuries as a result of the lack of supervision, and low self-esteem.

Educational neglect

Educational neglect is the failure of a parent or caregiver to enroll a in school or

provide appropriate home-schooling, or allowing the child or youth to engage in a
constant absence from school. Educational neglect can lead to the child's failing to
achieve basic life skills, dropping out of school or constantly making trouble.
Educational neglect can be a really serious threat to the childs emotional health,
physical health or normal psychological development, especially when the child has
special educational needs.
Emotional/Psychological neglect
Emotional/Psychological neglect includes actions such as constant or extreme
spousal abuse in the childs presence, allowing a child to use alcohol and drugs, refusing
to provide needed psychological care, constantly criticizing and underestimating the
child and refusing affection and feelings for child. Parental behaviors considered to be
emotional child neglect include:

Ignoring (failure to respond to the childs need for stimulation, encouragement

and protection),

Rejecting (actively refusing to respond to the childs needs )

Verbally abusing (constant criticizing or threatening);

Isolating (restricting the child from having normal social contacts with other
children and adults);

Terrorizing (threatening the child with extreme punishment

Corrupting or exploiting (encouraging the child to involve in destructive, illegal

or antisocial behavior).

Medical neglect
Medical neglect is a failure to provide appropriate health care for a child and

placing the child at risk of being seriously disabled or dying. According to NCANDS, in
2005, 2% of children (17,637 children) in the United States were victims of medical
neglect. Concern is acceptable not only when a parent refuses medical care for a child in
an emergency or for a dangerous illness, but also when a parent ignores medical
recommendations from a doctor for a child with a treatable disease or disability. Even in
non-emergency situations, medical neglect can result in bad overall health and some
other medical problems. Child-protective services will intervene when:

Medical treatment is needed in an extreme emergency (for example blood

transfusion);

A child with a life-threatening chronic disease is not receiving needed medical

treatment (for example children with diabetes);

A child has a chronic disease that can cause disability if it is left untreated (for
example a child who needs surgery).

2.2

Causes of child neglect

There are many factors that are increasing neglect. Some of them are parental

mental health problems, use of alcohol, domestic violence, unemployment etc. The
causes of child neglect are complicated and can be attributed to three different levels :

an intrapersonal

an inter-personal/family

a social/ecological level
In intrapersonal level discussion is focused on mother as primary caregiver. We

often talk about "neglectful attributes". They have included an inability to plan, lack of
confidence about the future, difficulty with managing money, emotional immaturity,

lack of knowledge of children's needs, a large number of children, being a teenage

mother, high levels of stress and poor socioeconomic circumstances.
Mental health problems, particularly depression, have been linked with a parent's
inability to meet a child's needs. It still not possible to know whether mothers and
fathers neglect differently and how this affects children. Also, we do not know much
about whether girls and boys experience neglect differently. More research in this area
would be useful.
At the inter-personal/family level, most of neglectful families are headed by a lone
mother. Unstable and abusive relationships have also been mentioned as increasing the
risk of child neglect. The influence of living with domestic violence on children
includes either direct violence or forced witnessing of abuse, which is potentially very
damaging to children. Research on domestic violence, however, has shown that
supporting the non-abusive parent is good child protection.

Mothers with a self-

reported history of physical abuse have higher indications of insensitivity to infant's

emotions than mothers with no history of abuse. Although the literature shows that
neglectful parents may have been affected by their own past experiences, more research
is needed to explore the link between past experiences in abusing and neglectful
parenting behavior.
At the social/ecological level, the association between poorness and neglect has
frequently been made. US studies have shown that less wealthy families are more likely
to neglect their children than wealthy families. Some argue that many forms of physical
neglect, such as inappropriate clothing, exposure to environmental dangers and poor
hygiene may be directly attributed to poverty while others are more careful in making a
direct link. While poverty is believed to increase the likelihood of neglect, it is
important to say that poverty does not predetermine neglect. Many poor families are not
neglectful but make sure that their kids have loving homes.

3. Indicators
How can we tell that a child is neglected? There are many indicators that can
help us to recognize not only child that had been neglected, but parents who are often
doing that.
1. Observable indicators:

offensive body odor

dirty skin

unwashed, uncombed hair

oversized and unclean clothing

dressed in clothing that is inappropriate to weather or situation

frequently left unsupervised or alone for periods of time

2.

Indicators of Poor Health:

puffiness under the eyes
frequent untreated upper respiratory infections
itching and long existing skin eruptions
frequent diarrhea
bruises or cuts that are infected
untreated illnesses
physical complaints not responded to by parents

3. Indicators in Infants and Toddlers:

poor responsiveness

does not often smile, cry, laugh, play, relate to others

lacks interest, curiosity
sucks thumb, finger,
is overly self-stimulating, self-comforting
does not turn to parent for help or comfort
hospitalization for failure to thrive - regresses upon return to home

4.

Indicators in Children:
cries easily when hurt even slightly
comes to school without breakfast
has no lunch or lunch money
needs dental care, glasses
falls asleep in class
often seems in a fog or dream world
comes to school early, does not want to go home
sees self as failure
does no homework, refuses to try
destroys books, assignments and learning aids or toys
is withdrawn, overactive, under-active and/or depressed
is cruel to classmates
lies, steals from classmates, school
breaks objects or damages school property
frequently absent or late for school

5.

Indicators with Parents and Family:

promises but does not follow up on recommendations
fails to keep appointments and/or refuses help from school or other resources
alcohol abuse
taking drugs
lifestyle of relative isolation from relatives, friends
history of abuse or neglect as a child
disorganized, chaotic home life
history of chronic illness
gives impression of resignation and feeling that nothing makes much difference
anyway

failure to provide supervision of children (This is the most frequent cause of

child death and should not be minimized)