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”