Neglect

After looking at all of the different topics on stressors that could affect a child’s development, the one thing that came to mind would be pure neglect. I work with CASA, and many times children are removed from the comforts of their own home because they are not being looked after. I have worked on two cases where children were taken out of the home because parents could not get their lives together and refused to take care of their children. It breaks my heart have the children that I work with, ask “when can I go home?” Children suffer developmentally when things like this happen, because sometimes they don’t understand why they are in the situation they are in. The children are confused and feel that it’s their fault. Children begin to lose sleep and even start acting out in school. It’s already bad enough that a child is losing sleep, but when behavior becomes an issue, then it’s even worse. I can recall on of the children on my case saying that if he would act out at school then maybe they would call his parents and they would come see bout him. I feel that once a child is stressed and doesn’t know where they will lay their heads the next night or where their next meal will come from; their willingness to thrive goes away. For a child to succeed and grow to their full potential, a child needs the tools to be able to access the life skills necessary to survive in today’s society. Neglecting a child’s needs can cause emotional and physical delays. Neglect can come in all forms and if we don’t educate parents, caregivers, and others we are putting more children at risk.

Some people think neglect is not as damaging to a child as physical or sexual abuse. But that is not necessarily true. Chronic neglect can strongly impact a child's health and development. According to research, neglect is the type of child maltreatment most likely to re-occur in a family even after child protective services intervention. Research also finds that the more chronic or recurring neglect is in a family, the more likely that children in that family have been physically abused or sexually abused as well. Neglected children are more likely to show up in the juvenile justice system during adolescent years and are less likely than physically abused or sexually abused children to receive services for their developmental delays. Children in the foster care system because of neglect tend to be younger than other maltreated children in out-of-home care.

                In 2011 Russia had an estimated 800,000 orphans.  Most of these orphans have a living mother or father who has abused, abandoned, or neglected them. The Russian government takes the parent’ rights away and places the children in orphanages. Orphans are considered graduated at the age of 15 or 16. They are sent back out on the streets without any support system or guidance. This becomes a never ending cycle. Once the child is grown, they tend to turn to drugs and have children of their own, and their children become orphans.  I found this shocking. I can’t believe how many children go without families and are left to fend for themselves. I have more appreciation for the system we have in place for our children here in the U.S.

Russian ophans: how many and who cares. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/russian_orphan_information.html