Neglect can affect any one and any family.

There are occasions when nearly all parents find it difficult to cope with the many demands of caring for children. But this does not mean that their children are being neglected, it’s more that the parents could do with some support.

It is often not easy to pinpoint one specific reason why child neglect happens, it occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

There are, however, some more common problems among adult carers that are associated with neglect of children. These include:

• domestic abuse
• parental mental health problems
• substance abuse, for example alcoholism
• parents with their own personal history of child neglect
• high stress levels and lack of support

Any child can suffer neglect, but research shows that some children are more vulnerable, including those who:

• have a disability
• have complex health needs
• are born prematurely or with a low birth weight
• are in care
• are seeking asylum
• are adolescents

Children and young people experience the impact of neglect differently at different ages, and Horwath categorised these differing stages as:

• infancy (0-2)
• pre-school (2-4)
• primary age (5-11)
• adolescence (12-18)

Adolescence

There is evidence to suggest that many adults, including the professionals who work with them, think that adolescents have a natural resilience to poor parenting experiences. This is not the case.

A Children’s Society study found that more than one in seven (15%) 14–15 year olds lived with adult caregivers who neglected them in one or more ways (parent or carer may have shown little or no interest in them, not offered warmth or encouragement, made no effort to monitor or protect them or failed to promote their health). 

These neglected young people reported low well-being and a higher propensity than their peers to behaving in ways which may jeopardise their health or their prospects. This statistic may underestimate the scale of adolescent neglect as they are based solely on the reports of young people who were attending mainstream schools – and so do not account for those in specialist provision, those without a school place or missing from the system, or those in private schools, for whom the experience of neglect may be different. 

Further information and learning on older children and neglect can be found in the document Growing up neglected (PDF, 1.11 MB)