Definition
Neglect is notoriously difficult to define as there are no clear, cross-cultural standards for desirable or minimally adequate child rearing practices. Research shows that neglect often co-exists with other forms of abuse and adversity. While neglect generally refers to the absence of parental care and the chronic failure to meet children’s basic needs, defining those needs has not been straightforward. “Working Together” defines neglect as:
..the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child's basic emotional needs.
Child neglect (also called psychological abuse) is a form of child abuse that occurs when someone intentionally does not provide a child with food, water, shelter, clothing, medical care, or other necessities. Forms of child neglect include: Allowing the child to witness violence or severe abuse between parents or adult, ignoring, insulting, or threatening the child with violence, not providing the child with a safe environment and adult emotional support, and showing reckless disregard for the child's well-being.
Other definitions of child neglect are:
- "the failure of a person responsible for a child’s care and upbringing to safeguard the child’s emotional and physical health and general well-being"
- acts of commission, harm to a child may or may not be the intended consequence
- the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs resulting in serious impairment of health and/or development.
Read more about this topic: Child Neglect
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