Child Neglect Effect

Children are our future. They will shape future generations to come and the way our society deals with difficulties. One difficulty that is currently being addressed is child neglect. Child neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment (Sedlak et al 2010). Neglect includes physical neglect, emotional neglect, medical neglect and educational neglect. Although there may or may not be physical symptoms, neglect may be harder to identify right away. Neglect is often referred to as an act of omission as the parent or caregiver does not intentionally cause harm to the child, but the absence of care puts the child at risk of harm (Sedlak et al 2010). In 2007, the cost of child abuse and neglect was $103.8 billion, which includes immediate

Neglect has been described as the “most serious type of child maltreatment and the least understood” (Crittenden 1999: 67). It is the most common reason for inclusion on the child protection register in the UK. In the year ending 31st March 2006, 43 per cent of child protection registrations in England related to children considered to be at risk of neglect (Source: DfES, 2006)

With neglect the child may become delinquent, turn to alcohol/drugs, steal, or develop neurotic traits like sleeping disorders. They may also exhibit extreme behavior patterns like infantile or adult like behavior. Some indicators of neglect may be consistent hunger, poor hygiene, truancy, abandonment, and a lack of physical development.

In most cases, child neglect can be very difficult to indicate especially if the child never discusses his or her living situation due to the fact that he or she is too young to express feelings unless he or she is being closely observed. According to Crosson-Tower (2010), “… neglect is less dramatic than the

Neglect: parents who cannot meet a child’s basic daily needs such as; hygiene, hunger, clothing and shelter. This can cause the child’s health to worsen and for their development to suffer. The child can also be left with people who cannot properly care for them. Signs and symptoms:

Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: â—• provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); â—• protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; â—• ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care- givers); or â—• ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a childâ€TMs basic emotional

health. This includes yelling, depression, name-calling, and lack of affection. Neglect is failure to provide for a child 's physical needs, which includes extreme hunger, lack of supervision, abandonment, and denial of medical attention.

Neglect is likely to result in the child’s health or development becoming impaired. The physical signs of neglect could be –

Physical/Emotional neglect is the failure to provide a child with basic needs, including adequate food, shelter, clothing, or necessary medical care. Neglect also exist when an adult fails to provide adequate supervision of a child as when a child is left either unsupervised or in the care of someone unable to supervise the child. Furthermore, neglect occurs when a person creates a substantial risk of physical injury to a child by other than accidental means which would be likely to cause death, disfigurement, impairment of physical or emotional health, or loss or impairment of any bodily function

For various reasons some children are neglected and not looked after properly. Some parents put the well being of their children low on their list of priorities. This would have a detrimental affect on all aspects of the child's life and development

Child abuse can be performed in many different ways. Unfortunately, abuse occurs in many households today. Neglect is a form of abuse other than physical, that can effectively harm a child. Neglection is characterized by the failure of taking proper care of a child. This form of abuse is often overlooked as we can see in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

The issue of child neglect is one of the most current forms of child maltreatment especially in the United States. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, child neglect is referred to as a kind of maltreatment which relates to the failure of a caregiver to offer the needed, age-appropriate care, despite the fact that the parent may be financially stable to do so (Conte 13). Neglect in many instances is described by an ongoing pattern that relates to lack of care and is observed by individuals in close contact with a child.

401). An analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2008) revealed that in 2008 the rate of reported infant maltreatment was 51.81 per 1000 children with children below the age of one having the greatest likelihood of being the subject of maltreatment with frequencies lessening with age (Fallon, et al., 2013, p. 2). Child neglect has come to be described as the “neglect of neglect,” as it has been minimized by physical and sexual abuse and exploitation; therefore, neglect is often overlooked and under identified. Furthermore, child neglect is often difficult to identify due to cultural and spiritual differences. What is often negligent for one family may be considered usual to another (Cowen, 1999, pp. 401-403). Consequently, infant neglect often results in social, mental and physical delays, adult traumatization (Harper, Stalker, Palmer, & Gadbois, 2008), and failure to thrive (FTT); the result of inadequate nutrition resulting in poor physical development and, in extreme cases, psychosocial short stature; a disorder of the pituitary and hypothalamus which causes the child to not only be underdeveloped in weight but also in height due to major emotional and psychological trauma (Block & Krebs, 2005, pp. 1234-1235).

Child neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment in the U.S. The Neglect Data System (NCANDS) for short, recorded approximately 899,000 children in the U.S were victims of abuse and neglect in 2005. Neglect is a type of abuse that is failure by the guardian to provide necessities such as food, clothes, love, and time with the child. Not giving anything that a normal parent would provide to their child. Signs of child neglect are poor hygiene, poor weight gain, poor medical care or frequent absences from school. There are many types of abuse; neglect is just one of them. Here below are the different types of child abuse.

Children who have experienced neglect in multiple areas, global neglect, may have significantly smaller brains than the norm. This indicates they have fewer neurological connections, leading to lifelong intellectual disadvantages (DePanfilis, 2006). Neglected children often have lower IQ's and extreme difficulties in learning new things. Lack of intellectual stimulation causes deficits in language development. Ultimately, neglect causes damages to the brain