Neglect of a child or young person is the persistent failure to meet a child or young person’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child or young person’s health or development.
Examples of neglect may see a parent or carer failing to:
In its extreme form, children or young people can be at serious risk from the effects of malnutrition, lack of nurturing and stimulation.
This can lead to serious long-term effects such as greater susceptibility to serious childhood illnesses and reduction in potential height and weight.
For example, children may be diagnosed as suffering from what is referred to as “non-organic failure to thrive”, which means they have been significantly prevented from reaching normal weight and growth or childhood development milestones and physical and genetic reasons have been discounted.