Acts of Omission: Child Neglect, Part 2

by Child Welfare Information Gateway

(Page 2 of 6)

In addition to identifying behaviors that are considered neglectful, there are other considerations regarding a definition of neglect. These include:

Should there be evidence of harm, or does neglect include endangerment of a child's health or welfare?

Should the caretaker's intent to harm be a consideration?

Many researchers, including Zuravin (1991), propose that endangering a child's health or welfare should be included in any definition of neglect, and that a caretaker's intent to harm or culpability should not be a consideration.

These differences highlight the challenges posed in comparing findings across studies that have used varying definitions of neglect. For example, when examining the rates of child neglect over time, a change in the numbers may not solely represent an actual increase or decrease in the number of children affected, but may partially be accounted for by a change in the definition.

Recognizing these difficulties, Federal agencies have been leading efforts to develop clear research definitions and a measurement tool to collect data on child maltreatment.

Throughout the 1990s, Congress mandated a number of Federal agencies to increase their focus on the problem of child abuse and neglect. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) created the Federal Child Abuse and Neglect Working Group. The Working Group began work in 1998 to develop clear classification systems and operational definitions for all types of child maltreatment, including child neglect, that can be used by researchers and also overlap with existing legal and clinical definitions. The Working Group is continuing to pursue this effort.

In 1994, the Federal Interagency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect challenged its Research Committee to address definitional issues confronting the child abuse and neglect research community nationally. The committee had representatives from several DHHS agencies and from other departments. The efforts of this group focused on developing a data collection system that could be used by researchers to define and identify all types of child abuse and neglect. By 1999, these efforts resulted in an instrument entitled the Child Maltreatment Log. This instrument is being field tested in two 17-month pilot projects that were initiated in September 2000. Once the results of the pilots are analyzed, the instrument will be revised and disseminated for use by the research community.

The goals of these projects are to offer researchers a common definition and measurement tool so that the findings of various studies can be compared and the studies can be replicated, both of which contribute to a stronger knowledge base. In the field of child neglect, many researchers and policy makers consider this to be an important step in building our knowledge about the problem, the factors associated with it, and how to address it.

Spotlight on Chronic Neglect

One issue in defining child neglect involves consideration of "incidents" of neglect versus a pattern of behavior that indicates neglect. Zuravin recommends that some behaviors should present a "chronic pattern" to be considered neglectful. Examples include lack of supervision, inadequate hygiene, and failure to meet a child's educational needs. This suggests that rather than focusing on individual incidents that may or may not be classified as "neglectful," one should look at an accumulation of incidents that may together constitute neglect. "If CPS focuses only on the immediate allegation before them and not the pattern reflected in multiple referrals, then many neglected children will continue to be inappropriately excluded from the CPS system". For example, a family exhibiting a pattern of behavior that may constitute neglect might include frequent reports of not having enough food in the home or keeping older children home from school to watch younger children. In most CPS systems, however, the criteria for identifying neglect focuses on recent, discrete, verifiable incidents.

In recognition of this issue, the Missouri Division of Family Services (n.d.) has assigned one of its CPS staff as a "Chronic Neglect Specialist." This office defines chronic neglect as "... a persistent pattern of family functioning in which the caregiver has not sustained and/or met the basic needs of the children which results in harm to the child". The focus here is what Dr. Patricia Schene calls "accumulation of harm." She states that instead of focusing on individual incidents as they occur, one should look at an accumulation of experience, or the cumulative effect on children of repeated incidents, when determining whether neglect exists. A study conducted by Egeland found that many children who had been referred to CPS for neglect did not receive services because their cases did not meet the criteria for "incidents" of neglect. However, he found that all of these children had, in fact, suffered severe developmental consequences.

About the Author

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Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.