homework

Chapter 4

The Neglect of Children

Definition and Impact of Neglect • Neglect: an act of omission related to parental deficits

• Physical neglect: non-organic failure to thrive, abandonment, failure to meet basic physical needs

• Inadequate supervision • Medical neglect, educational neglect, emotional neglect, mental

health neglect • Stimulation neglect, language neglect, gross/fine motor neglect • Environmental neglect

• Neglect is the most common form of Child abuse • In the U.S., neglect accounts for 78% of all child maltreatment cases,

far more than physical abuse (17%), sexual abuse (9%), and psychological abuse (8%) combined.

• Video – In Brief: The Science of Neglect – https://youtu.be/bF3j5UVCSCA

• Video – Still Face Experiment: Dr. Edward Tronic – https://youtu.be/apzXGEbZht0

4 Types of Unresponsive Care

Impacts of Neglect of Child Development

The absence of responsive relationships poses a serious threat to a child’s development and well-being. • Sensing threat activates biological stress response systems, and excessive

activation of those systems can have a toxic effect on developing brain circuitry. When the lack of responsiveness persists, the adverse effects of toxic stress can compound the lost opportunities for development associated with limited or ineffective interaction. This complex impact of neglect on the developing brain underscores why it is so harmful in the earliest years of life. It also demonstrates why effective early interventions are likely to pay significant dividends in better long-term outcomes in educational achievement, lifelong health, and successful parenting of the next generation.

Chronic neglect is associated with a wider range of damage than active abuse, but it receives less attention in policy and practice. • Science tells us that young children who experience significantly limited

caregiver responsiveness may sustain a range of adverse physical and mental health consequences that actually produce more widespread developmental impairments than overt physical abuse. These can include cognitive delays, stunting of physical growth, impairments in executive function and self- regulation skills, and disruptions of the body’s stress response.

Brain Scan of two Infants

• In the well-developed brain on the left, rich areas of red and orange depicting high activity; on the right, a few lobes of orange in a sea of black empty space where there should be active tissue.

• The deprived brain was that of a Romanian orphan in the 1990s. Rarely held or snuggled, much less removed from her crib, this poor child’s brain never had the kind of stimulation it required to grow appropriately.

The Measurement of Neglect: Child Neglect Index (CNI) • Supervision

• Extent to which parent anticipates risky situations and intervenes to protect child in an age-appropriate manner; knowledge of child’s whereabouts

• Physical Care

• Adequate nutrition with regular meals; Hygiene: child is clean and adequately clothed

• Health Care

• Provides basic medical needs, responds to child’s emotional needs; ensures developmental and educational needs are met

Risk Factors for Neglect:

• Environmental factors:

• Poverty

• Community characteristics: lack of resources

• Access to social supports

• Ecological factors:

• run-down neighborhoods

• systemic oppression

• Parenting factors:

• Difficulties in processing information & affect

• Substance abuse

Neglect & Risk Factors/Protective Factors

Symptoms & Effects of Neglect: Infancy/Early Childhood • Non-organic failure to thrive syndrome:

• Falls below the fifth percentile in weight

• Eats little, lacks interest in environment, shows developmental lag

• Psychosocial dwarfism:

• Behavioral problems around food and sleep

• Hyperactivity

• Extreme fatigue.

Symptoms & Effects of Neglect: Young Children • Presence of Pediculosis (lice)

• Poor motor skills

• Language delays

• Lack of medical care: routine and urgent care; immunizations

• Academic problems: difficulty with advanced conceptualizations and complicated instructions

• Impaired socialization

• Impulsiveness

Brain Scan of two Toddlers

Studies on children in a variety of settings show that severe deprivation or neglect: • Disrupts the ways in which children’s brains

develop and process information, increasing the risk for attentional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral disorders.

• Alters the development of biological stress- response systems, leading to greater risk for anxiety, depression, cardiovascular problems, and other chronic health impairments later in life.

• Correlates with significant risk for emotional and interpersonal difficulties, including high levels of negativity, poor impulse control, and personality disorders, as well as low levels of enthusiasm, confidence, and assertiveness.

• Is associated with significant risk for learning difficulties and poor school achievement, including deficits in executive function and attention regulation, low IQ scores, poor reading skills, and low rates of high school graduation.

Parents Who Neglect Children

• Apathetic

• appears to have given up on life

• negative, withdrawn

• Impulsive

• low tolerance

• seeks immediate gratification

• Reactive-depressive

• unable to cope with some stressors

• (i.e. birth of a child, partner leaving)

• Parents with mental Illness

Substance-Abusing Families

• Parents under the influence of drugs or alcohol can physically, sexually, or emotionally abuse their children.

• They are not fully available to provide adequate parenting.

• Prenatal Abuse:

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

• Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

• HIV infection

Plight of the Parent and the Social Worker • Is the neglectful parent the adversary?

• The neglectful parent is still the whole world to the child

• The child sees the condemnation of their parents as a rejection of themselves.

• Solution is not simple: the cycle must be broken.

• Removal of the children?

• ‘Parenting’ of the parents!