Neglect

(See also: Responding to Child Neglect in Knowsley - Practitioner Guidance).

Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child's health or development. Use of the Graded Care Profile is crucial at all stages of interventions to consider the neglect risks for families (see Knowsley Graded Care Profile 2).

Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, Neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:

• Provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment;
• Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger;
• Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers);
• Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.

It may also include neglect of, or responsiveness to, a child's basic emotional needs.

See Knowsley Safeguarding Children Partnership Multi-Agency Neglect Strategy (2023 - 2026).

In addition to a child's neglected appearance there may be other indicators of Neglect:

• Being significantly short and/or underweight for the chronological age;
• Cold mottled skin or poor skin condition;
• Swollen limbs;
• Cuts or sores which are slow to heal;
• Diarrhoea caused by a poor or inappropriate diet, irregular meals or tension.

This list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive.

Severe Neglect in young children is associated with major impairment of growth and intellectual development. Persistent Neglect in children of any age can lead to serious impairment of health and development, and long-term difficulties with social functioning, relationships and educational progress.

Neglect can also result in death.

Failure to thrive is a condition requiring a medical diagnosis. It can have an organic cause, but can also be a result of the persistent Neglect of the child's physical and/or emotional needs.

Children suffering Neglect may show dramatic changes in appearance and social functioning when placed in a different environment such as a hospital or foster placement.

Measuring Neglect is always difficult and requires close co-operation between Health and Children's Social Care. Inquiries into child deaths have placed great importance on the height and weight of very young children being plotted on the centile charts.

Neglect is often difficult to detect in that it is usually a slow ongoing process. Professionals may, out of familiarity, start to unknowingly tolerate lessening standards of child care, and each one of us has different standards with regards to what is acceptable or unacceptable. It is therefore essential that a regular, objective appraisal of the child's presentation and condition is made. Where there are concerns about the quality of care being provided to a child(ren) professionals should undertake the Graded Care Profile2 tool to determine what intervention/support is needed (see Knowsley Graded Care Profile 2).