The Children of Neglect: When No One Cares

Description

Recent studies by the US Department of Health and Human Services (1996, 1999, 2000, 2002) show that children are almost twice as likely to be neglected by their families as they are to be abused, and that the effects of neglect are at least as devastating as those of abuse. And yet there is a glaring gap in the literature available to social workers, counselors, and therapists, as there have been very few books published that focus on neglect. This book contains a comprehensive review of the current state of child neglect, combining research, theory and practice in order to promote awareness and suggest practical solutions. Included are statistics regarding incidence and lethality, definitional issues, etiological theory, history and current policy, current interventions, and the relationship of child neglect to poverty, substance abuse, and culture.

""The Children of Neglect provides researchers, practitioners and policy makers with a comprehensive overview of our collective failure to face the devastating consequences chronic neglect has on a child's development. Although more common and more harmful than child abuse, child neglect remains the least frequently studied and the most poorly understood of all forms of maltreatment. Drawing on over 400 references, Smith and Fong outline the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical assumptions and practice reforms, highlighting the unique role such issues as poverty, substance abuse and culture play in confounding our efforts to do better.."-Deborah Daro Ph.D., Research Fellow and Associate Professor, University of Chicago and Former director of the National Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research "As Smith and Fong effectively argue, "doing better" will require more than altering public child welfare services or expanding the range of supportive services. It will require recognition of our shared responsibility to nurture and support all children at a level we know is needed to insure their healthy and safe development.."-Deborah Daro Ph.D., Research Fellow and Associate Professor, University of Chicago and Former director of the National Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research