what can we do?

20 out of 20 people have a general idea of what child neglect is, however 13 of those participants did mention child abuse and neglect as one, meaning that child neglect needs to be pulled out into light a lot more and a lot quicker . It is obvious that by better informing families, family members, school teachers and staff, babysitters, guardians and care-givers about child neglect and how to report it, child neglect cases and death reports could show a decrease in number. In 1998, the Child Welfare League of America initiated a public awareness campaign to direct attention to tragic child deaths due to child abuse and neglect on April 23, called Children’s’ Memorial Flag Day. Over the past three years, this campaign has been getting support from mayors, directors of social service agencies and hospitals, schools, district attorneys, police chiefs, and others. Their support has led many members of different communities to get together that day and share poems and murals concerning child neglect and abuse. Their website invites members of communities to support, “Your support is essential to helping us realize the dream of eliminating the violence against children” and to bring to light neglected child cases . Members of communities can draw stronger attention to child neglect cases by launching a Memorial Child Neglect Awareness Day to provide spectators with better information about child neglect cases. A quick and easy way that a member of a community could help is by volunteering at child welfare houses like a local Ronald McDonald House, or any other organizations that offer welfare programs for children.

Laws concerning child neglect

The Department’s Community Service Administration of the Social Rehabilitation Service funded a research grant to develop a survey on child neglect, in November 1973.  Although the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare had already started taking action against child abuse the same year, this is the first survey that devoted its attention solely to the child neglect case. Many laws have been passed concerning child welfare and maltreatment, since 1974, and although some changed a bit with time, more states passed specific laws against this issue. Approximately 24 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands include failure to educate the child as required by law in their definition of neglect including Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming (2009).  Seven States specifically define medical neglect as failing to provide any special medical treatment or mental health care needed by the child this includes Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia (2009). you can click here if you want to check out the State Statutes for yourself. In addition, four States define as medical neglect the withholding of medical treatment or nutrition from disabled infants with life-threatening conditions and this includes Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, and Montana. In Texas, leaving a child under the age of 7 not attended by an individual of at least 14 years of age in a vehicle is punishable under the Texas Penal Code, Title 5, Chapter 22, Section 10.  Delgado patrols various High Schools within his assigned district, he says “This is considered a class C misdemeanor and the person responsible for the child is charged with a fine of $500” . If the child is found injured then the charge is elevated to a felony known as child endangerment and the fine is also raised to $10,000 or 6 months to 2 years in jail. Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle is a form of neglectful supervision, for the child is being left in a situation where there is a risk the child could be harmed and the parent failed to remove them from that situation. 

Types of child neglect

Under the definition of child neglect, there exist six types of neglect that must be identified: medical neglect, nutritional neglect, emotional neglect, educational neglect, physical neglect, and lack of supervision and guidance.
 
Medical neglect is dangerous because it puts the life of the child in danger, especially since there have been cases where children are discovered when they are already suffering. A child reaches this degree of danger only when a parent or care-giver minimizes or deny a child’s illness or health needs. Medical care is especially important to vulnerable children that require special help, therefore, medical neglect also includes failing to care for dental care, optical care, speech and language therapy, and physiotherapy.

Nutritional neglect is when a parent or care-giver pays little or no attention to the child’s diet and eating habits. When a baby is born it is easy to keep up with the baby’s diet since it only consists of milk through the first six months, however, after the sixth month the baby starts requiring more time and food to have a healthy growth. When the adult care-giver does not provide the child this type of nutritional attention the child then fails to thrive, or in other words, the child fails to grow physically in terms of weight, height, and head circumference as well as psychologically . This too can be reversed, meaning that the care-giver might not pay attention to how much healthy or junk food the child consumes daily leading the child into obesity and, if the eating pattern of the child continues unattended, into a disorder like diabetes. 


Emotional neglect is revealed when a child shows low self-esteem and conforms to low expectations. These self-esteem damages are engraved in a children’s sense of self-worth, when a parent or care-giver acts indifferent or fails to interact with them. Officials that have experience in working with emotionally neglected children and their parents, have found a connection between the parents’ own experience of emotional neglect in their childhood, and their lack of awareness and ignorance towards their children. Whatever the case or the cause, emotional neglect has a tremendous impact on the child’s growth and development that will be evident in their older years.

Educational neglect is one of the reasons why school staff starts noticing when a child is being neglected by the parents, little by little, when the parent doesn’t submit to state requirements concerning school attendance. Submitting to school attendance requirements is just a small part, showing interest in child’s success, progress and learning skills is a big part of providing educational attention as well. Educational neglect too, has tremendous impact on a children’s learning development that harms them later on academically.

Physical neglect is one of the most obvious or familiar to spectators, and it can lead to emotional and health issues. Children that are part of this issue usually have poor hygienic appearance, dress with unclean clothes, seem tired or sleepy most of the time, and keep their distance from their peers since they feel different than the others. However, that is just the first impression physical neglected children give, but most of them also live in houses with poor hygienic and/or safe conditions.

42% of adolescents that got little or no supervision and guidance while they were infants commit crimes, while only 20% of adolescents that did get supervision and guidance commit crimes. Lack of guidance has regretful results when the child reaches the age where they get introduced to sex, drugs, alcohol, etc, since they are particularly vulnerable when unsupervised. Melendez works at a local High School as a Parent Involvement agent, she declares “how sad it is to meet students (of age of up to 18) with this type of problem”, when a child is deprived of supervision and guidance “the result is catastrophic, it is something that affects their character and self esteem which leads to revolt. In many cases this is the reason of unexpected pregnancies amongst young girls, and drug addictions” . But supervision and guidance is needed at a very early age consider a 12 month old babe; as soon as the babe is left alone to feed themselves or in the bath, or when a parent leaves medication in a place where a preschooler under 5 years of age can reach the pills, it is considered lack of proper supervision. When a parent is intoxicated and therefore leaves the preschooler unattended, or when a primary school child of 8 years of age is left cooking a meal without attendance, even if children of 11-16 years of age are left alone at home with younger siblings, it is also considered lack of supervision.

Child neglect

Child neglect and child abuse are often either confused, or discussed as similar subjects in published studies, which is way many spectators may not know that the impact of child neglect is as harmful as child abuse. However, the World Health Organization clearly distinguishes the four types of child maltreatment individually, which are: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. In order to identify a possible child neglect case and act to prevent the incident, it is very important to know the difference between child neglect and child abuse. When a child is abused by an adult, whether physically or sexually, this act is seen as an act of commission, meaning harm caused to the child due to improper behavior. On the other hand, when a child is being neglected, proper behavior is not present and this is known as omission. For example, commission is shown when an adult pushes a child not capable of swimming, into a swimming pool; while omission is shown when the adult knows the child is not capable of swimming yet leaves the child unattended near an open swimming pool. The World Health Organization (WHO) is very specific when it states that neglect is “failure of a parent to provide for the development of the child” concerning “health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter and safe living conditions”