Infant and Toddler Neglect
Out of all different forms of abuse, infants and toddlers are more likely to suffer from neglect (Connell and Scannapieco, 2006). Severe consequences to children are the after effect of them suffering from neglect (Connell and Scannapieco, 2006). 71 % of children that are reported endure neglect based on CPS findings (Nicklas and Mackenzie, 2012) and one fourth of the children abused are less than 4 years old (Malik, Lederman, Crowson, and Osofsky, 2002). Neglect, a passive form of abuse, can cause detrimental effects physically, emotionally, mentally, behaviorally, and relationally to both infants and toddlers.
Physical
Failure to thrive is a negative physical outcome cause by neglect. Failure to thrive is when neglected children compared to children who gain the proper weight at acceptable standards have extended interruption of their norm (Block and Krebs, 2005). To support the claim that neglect caused FIT, hospitals noticed increased intake of nourishment and exceeded the normal amount of weight increase (Block and Krebs, 2005). A critical element of FIT is if there are any bonding concerns between caregiver and infant (Block and Krebs, 2005). Caregivers and parents who are inattentive to an infant or toddler nourishment will cause distress about child abuse (Block and Krebs, 2005). Another negative physical outcome of neglect is not vaccinating infants and toddlers. If infant and toddlers are not up-to-date with immunizations it is considered neglect in some states (Vasquez and Pitts, 2006). At an early age infants and toddlers are susceptible to acquire numerous immunizations avoidable illnesses if immunizations are hindered, which might lead to death or diseases because of contagious ailme...
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... Halsey, N. (2009). Vaccine refusal, mandatory immunization, and the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases. The New England Journal of Medicine, 360(19), 1981-1988.
Strathearn, L. , Gray, P. , & Wood, D. (2001). Childhood neglect and cognitive development in extremely low birth weight infants: A prospective study. Pediatrics, 108(1), 142-151.
Vasquez, E. , & Pitts, K. (2006). Red flags during home visitation: Infants and toddlers. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 23(2), 123-131.
Yanos, P. , Czaja, S. , & Widom, C. (2010). A prospective examination of service use by abused and neglected children followed up into adulthood. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 61(8), 796-802.
Zeanah, C. , Scheeringa, M. , Boris, N. , Heller, S. , Smyke, A. , et al. (2004). Reactive attachment disorder in maltreated toddlers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28(8), 877-888.
McCoy, M. L., & Keen, S. M., (2009). Child abuse and neglect. New York: Psychology Press.
Child abuse and neglect are “social” issues that were addressed by the author. While children are in foster care, they may become victims of maltreatment: child neglect, child emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The terms neglect refers to when parents fail to provide a child’s basic needs and provide satisfactory level of care (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009). An example of a child being neglected is when parents or c...
Child abuse can be Physical, Sexual, Emotional, and Physiological Abuse. Child abuse is not only just about abuse but neglect as well. The difference between abuse and neglect is, that abuse is the maltreatment of someone and neglect is failure to give the proper care to a person (Jilani, 2010). Neglect has different types as well, such as Educational, Emotional, and Physical Neglect. Every place in the world has some types of statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect. For example, “The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect (Childhelp, n.d.).” The fact that so many young lives are lost before they even get to begin is
Kilrain, Maureen V. “Developmental Trauma Disorder: the Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect.” Clinical Advisor, 29 June 2017, www.clinicaladvisor.com/features/child-maltreatment-and-dtd/article/654653.
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“Each year, Child Protective Services receives reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many go unreported” (New Directions). The article New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research, explores the need for research of the long-term affects of child abuse and neglect, not only on the victims, but also on their families, future relationships, and other people out in the community. Current research has brought to life the long-term developmental and biological challenges that abuse victims deal with long after an event occurs. A problem that current researchers face when striving to learn more about the long-term affects of child abuse is a lack of funds. Money drives a lot of things in this world, and research is one of those things. The current funds for this type of research has been spread very thin over numerous organizations that deal with child abuse. In this article, New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research, new ideas for spreading these funds have been talked about and plans have been devised.
There has been an enormous amount of research, going back almost thirty years, about the relationship between childhood trauma, and juvenile delinquency. Many researches cannot say that there is a direct link between the two, but after much research, researches have found that childhood trauma can perhaps be a predictor for juveniles who later in life commit crimes. Trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury,” because the definition is broad and can range from a variety of different events, for the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on neglect trauma in juveniles (Trauma, 2016). Neglect according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is, “the failure of a parent or other person with the responsibility for the child to provide needed food,
Osofsky, J., & Lieberman, A. (2011). A call for intergrating a mental health perspective into systems of care for abused and neglected infants and young children. American Psychologist, 66(2), 120-128.
...(as discussed previously), attentiveness for the need of such an intervention is a step in the right direction. Furthermore, Wotherspoon, Laberge, and Pirie (2008) indicate that the “… rapid increase in the number of requests for a consultation from our child welfare partners…” (p. 391) demonstrates the positive benefits of their CMHC program. This program has built a relationship with Child Welfare and included opportunities for those workers to enhance their knowledge (Wotherspoon, Laberge, & Pirie, 2008) on child development, mental health and trauma implications. As highlighted in Bass’s et al. (2004) report, the policies and practices for child welfare agencies are varied between different states, hence their contribution towards alleviating and preventing mental health problems in young foster children is unbalanced and hard to measure in terms of success.
In conclusion, Child abuse and neglect is more common in children’s lives today. A child may be harmed and be right in front of us and we do not even know it. We have to watch out for the signs and symptoms to try and help a child out. We may not even realize it till it is too late. The effect can appear in all aspects of life, rather it being psychological or behavioral. These effects can range from anything such as minor physical injury, not getting along with others, or become aggressive and affect them later on in life.
From birth, children are dependent on parents for survival and safety. Infants need this attachment in order to survive. Basic needs like shelter and food are things in that all human beings need; but for infants and children, in particular, they cannot survive independently without parents and guidance. Furthermore, as children grow, the parent-child attachment is not just physical, but it is also psychological. Adults who care for children through unconditional love and acceptance, provide positive living environments and self confidence which helps the child grow independently into an adult. Failure in this child-parent relationship in the form of long term neglect or trauma can have consequences in a child’s development physically and psychologically.
Funding is awarded to support ongoing research programs to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and to collect and distribute data. Projects that are currently funded are Child Welfare Information Gateway website, the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response, annual publication of Child Maltreatment and the initiative on Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation to Prevent Child Maltreatment.
Neglect has an extensive impact on children. A summary of literature in this area, Horwath (2007) stated that neglect could have a damaging affect on all of the developmental needs of a chid, including physical, socio-emotional, cognitive and behavioural development. Recent research has focused on the way in which neglect affects the developing brain, and subsequently influences all areas of development. This provides evidenc...
In the collected reports from all states, 702,208 cases of child abuse were investigated, of those 702,208 cases, 526,744 were indicated as cases of neglect. That is a lot of abused children, but once again we must understand what neglect is to understand what is encompassed in the 526,744 cases. Neglect, I would image can be largely tied back into the inability of a parental figure or guardian to adequately provide for the child or children in their care. This can range in failure to provide proper housing, a source of food, clean living conditions. The children’s Bureau defines neglect as “A type of maltreatment that refers to the failure by the caregiver to provide needed, age-appropriate care although financially able to do so or offered financial or other means to do so (p 120). So in 2014, 526,744 children were not given the basic necessities of life by those who were supposed to love them more than life itself. Granted not all of those cases were sustained, it remains a number that is jaw dropping. A scan of the list of states shows that no matter the state, neglect seems to be the main cause of all child abuse cases investigated. In New York neglect represented 95.4% of the cases, and in fact there were only 6 states that reported less than 50% of their child abuse cases came from neglect (Child Maltreatment p. 57). Although most states reported
Failure to provide a child with basic necessary needs is known as neglect. Neglect has become the most common form of child abuse, and its effects have been recognized as the most detrimental to a child’s development. According to Zorika Petic Henderson’s article “Maltreated Children Fail in School”, Childr...