Thousands of children experience abuse and neglect around the globe, all hands should be on deck to put a stop to it to prevent the horrifying consequences of parental neglect. Parental neglect is depressing and has devastating effects. Research shows that it can disrupt healthy development and have lifelong consequences on children. But why would a parent fail to provide his or her child with the basic necessities of life that borders on affection, shelter, nutrition, health, education, and safe living conditions? What are the causes of parental neglect? What are the effects? BETTY AMUKPO asks. Some children respond thus.
‘Poverty, parental drug abuse, unemployment’
The Bible says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). The causes of parental neglect are as follows: Poverty, parental drug abuse, unemployment, large family, and inadequate support from the parents and poor knowledge of child development.
The effects of parental neglect are as follows:
• The child will develop poor emotions.
• The child may join bad company.
• The child may engage in bad habit.
‘It leads to social vices such as stealing, drug addiction’
Parental neglect means not giving enough attention to the children. Effect of parental neglect on children are:
•Truancy: Children running away from school or refusing to go to school.
•Lack of knowledge of God which is wisdom. Children not taking the things of God as it is supposed to be because they were not taught.
•It leads to social vices such as stealing, drug addiction etc. Causes of parental neglect are:
•Broken home.
•Lack of family values.
•Irresponsibility on the part of the parent.
•poverty.
•Greediness.
•Failed leadership etc.
‘Career of some parents might not enable them to have quality time to properly take care of their children’
The causes of parental neglect are:
1. The career of the parents; the career of some parents might not enable them to have quality time to properly train and take care of their children.
2. Parental neglect can also be caused when a child is born deformed so the parents don’t care about the child. And all of these can affect the child in one way or the other. It can lead to the death of the child because of inadequate medical care.
It can as also make a child have low self-esteem, which could make the child see himself or herself as worthless. It can make the child grow up to live a bad life due to improper upbringing.
‘Children fall victims of human trafficking, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancy’
Some causes of parental neglect are:
Separation: In the sense that when the couples are separated the child will lack good parental care;
Hardship: If the parents are not financially buoyant and cannot meet the needs of their children, the children join bad gangs; Parents not having time for their children: In a situation whereby the father goes to work on Monday and comes back only on weekends, and only the mother is left with the children, and she goes to work as early as 5a.m and comes back very late at night every day, and each time her child wants to report any case concerning his or her well-being she says “tomorrow you’ll tell me.
” The next day eventually she says “oh, I’m tired another day you’ll tell me”. Now with that type of attitude the child eventually stops meeting his mum and joins bad gangs. The effects of parental neglect also are: Children fall victims of human trafficking, drug abuse, unwanted pregnancy. They join bad gangs that engage in armed robbery, taking of hard drugs which makes them misbehave, and most of them become rapist. Today I pray that God will touch our parents not to neglect us through Christ our Lord. Amen.
‘Child neglect is a form of abuse’
What is neglect?
Neglect is a state of being uncared for.
What is parental neglect?
Parental neglect is a form of abuse, an egregious behaviour of caregivers that results in a deprivation of a child.
Effects of child neglect:
1. It can lead to depression
2. It can lead to drug abuse.
3. It can lead to death.
‘Neglect may lead to low self-esteem, substance use’
For many years, clinicians have described the effects of child abuse and neglect on the physical, psychological, cognitive and behavioural development of children. For example, abuse or neglect may lead to psychological problems, such as low self-esteem, which could later lead to high risk behaviours, such as substance use. Extreme neglect can actually make children’s brains smaller, including low IQ cognitive delays that impact on learning, and difficulty with behavioural inhibitions.
‘Effects of parental neglect includes anxiety, depression, low self-esteem’
Failure of parents to provide for their children’s needs and physical development could affect their health, education, affection, nutrition, shelter, lack of support from extended family, unemployment as well as safe living conditions.
Effects of parental neglect include anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, cuts, bruises and broken bones.
‘Neglect may stunt physical development, engender psychological problem such as depression’
Causes of parental neglect are:
1. Poverty: Not having enough money to pay the child’s bills.
2. Lack of education.
3. Violence between parents or career issues.
4. Lack of knowledge and skills in bringing up children.
The effects of parental neglect may result in the exposure of the child to abuse, stunt the physical development of the child’s brain and lead to other psychological problems such as depression, dissociation, difficulty with making and maintaining relationship and hyper vigilance.
