Report suggests child neglect often overlooked

Report suggests child neglect often overlooked - Children’s Commissioner

Child neglect does not always get the attention it deserves despite the serious damage it causes to children’s development, Children’s Commissioner John Angus said today.

A report released today by the Commissioner, Preventing child neglect in New Zealand – A public health assessment of the evidence, current approach, and best practice guidance, says more awareness of child neglect is needed.

“Responses to child neglect need more focus. While physical and sexual abuse get the headlines, it is neglect of children’s need for safety, security and good nurturing that is by far the most common form of maltreatment.

“Child, Youth and Family figures show that neglect of children’s needs is twice as commonly found in the situations they investigate as physical abuse and four times as common as sexual abuse. And the number of children who are vulnerable to emotional harm because of family violence is even higher,” John Angus said.

“Most people are aware of neglect in its most obvious form – when children are left ‘home alone’ while their parents are out drinking or found living in homes turned into P labs. There have been a number of cases like this in recent months.

“But most neglect is less obvious and more prevalent than this. Most neglect is about continually failing to provide the basics needed for a child to develop and thrive, physically, psychologically and socially.

“That may not sound as damaging as physical or sexual abuse, yet the consequences from year after year of neglect can be disastrous. It can lead to severe developmental delay and physical and behavioural problems in childhood, and mental illness, drug abuse, violent crime and ill health in adulthood.

“And yet our report found neglect is not always understood by professionals or well- identified or responded to consistently. Teachers, police, doctors and social workers often struggle to make the judgement about when neglect is at the point of being harmful in the long-term – when does bad get ‘too bad.’

“It’s much more straightforward to take action when a child comes to school with bruises and a black eye. But what does the teacher do if the child comes late to school, day after day, tired and looking dirty and uncared for? How do they know when this is ‘child maltreatment’ and they need to do something about it?”

The report found that better support is needed for teachers, police, doctors and social workers in contact with children, to make these decisions about whether to take action or not.

“While there is training and tools to help professionals identify and take action on physical and sexual abuse, the report found there’s much less support for dealing with concerns about neglect. This is rather surprising when it’s the most commonly reported finding by social workers.

“Different agencies also have different protocols and understanding of what neglect is,” he said.

The report recommends the development of a shared understanding of neglect and stronger policy guidance for identification and intervention. It also proposes better collection and sharing of information between agencies, as a basis for better understanding of how to prevent it.

“One of our recommendations is to update the interagency guide to preventing child abuse to include more detailed information on neglect. This will strengthen a shared understanding of neglect among agencies. As part of this we suggest that case studies of neglect situations, with suggestions for how to respond, would help those working with children make the right decisions.

“There is already some work underway to improve the way neglect is dealt with in this country. This includes better recording by the Police of children in circumstances where they are unsafe and insecure, such as family violence - where far more referrals are now made to social services agencies. Child, Youth and Family have a number of initiatives that will see improved responses, including more referrals to non-governmental agencies. But there is much more to be done.

“I hope that our findings will improve the way we deal with neglect to make sure more New Zealand children grow up healthy, safe and well nurtured.”

Ends.

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