Child neglect falls under the umbrella of child abuse and, not only, accounts for 60% of all reported child abuse cases it is also the most lethal. The definition of neglect is failure to provide safety, shelter, supervision, and adequate nutritional needs. There are two main forms of neglect, severe and general. Severe neglect includes severe malnutrition, wilfully causing the child to be endangered, intentional failure to provide food, clothing, shelter, and/or medical care. General neglect encompasses negligent failure of the caretaker to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, supervision, and/or medical care, where the result has not been physical injury to the child.
Neglect can be further broken down into three sub-categories, known as, physical, educational, and/or emotional neglect.
1.) Physical neglect-involves the refusal or suspension of seeking health care, inadequate supervision, abandonment, and/or expulsion from the home.
2.) Educational neglect-involves continued truancy, failure to enroll in school a child of mandatory age, and/or failure to attend to special educational needs.
3.) Emotional neglect-involves significant inattention to the child’s needs for affection and psychological care, any spousal abuse the child witnesses, and/or permissible drug or alcohol use by the child.