Intro
Reporting Requirements
Types
Talking to
a Youth
Making the
Report
Conclusion
Neglect
Define
Recognize
Practice
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Neglect is defined as the failure, refusal, or inability on the part of a caregiver, for reasons other than poverty, to provide necessary care so as to seriously endanger the physical health of the youth.
Let’s look carefully at the different parts of this definition. Click on the questions below.
Neglect is failure on the part of a caregiver, in other words: a parent, legal custodian, guardian, or a person providing temporary care or supervision, such as a day care provider, teacher, coach, shelter care worker, detention center worker, residential facility staff, group home staff, or correctional officer/youth counselor.
The definition also includes any facility staff who are responsible for supervising staff who provide temporary care or supervision to youth.
Briefly, neglect is a failure to provide basic care and protection. Necessary care includes such things as the following:
- Adequate food and water
- Clothing adequate for the weather
- Necessary medical and dental care
- Adequate shelter
- Level of supervision consistent with the youth’s needs
- Protecting the youth from dangers that a caregiver can reasonably be expected to foresee and prevent
This means that for an identified lack of care to be considered neglect, it must have the potential to significantly negatively impact the youth’s physical health.
Failure to get treatment for a youth’s broken arm endangers that youth’s physical health. Failure to assure a youth has adequate school supplies does not endanger the youth’s physical health, and therefore is not neglect.
No. No actual harm needs to have been experienced by the youth for the conditions to be neglect. The word “endanger” is predictive.
Would a reasonable person conclude that leaving a 16-year old youth who is suicidal unsupervised in a room with implements that he could use to harm himself puts that child in serious physical danger? Yes. Therefore, it may be neglect, even though the child might not yet have been physically harmed.
Remember that there are two different ways that you may become aware of suspected abuse or neglect of a youth. The language in the neglect definition “for reasons other than poverty” only relates to suspected neglect of a youth that you learn of that occurred prior to his or her time in your facility. For these reports, keep in mind that having limited resources is not neglect. Parents may find themselves in a situation where they must set priorities regarding paying for medical care, food, clothing and sometimes even shelter.
Poverty, in this definition, is about insufficient income coming into the household, regardless of a parent’s attempts to improve those circumstances. If parents do what they can to provide for their children with their limited resources, it is not neglect.
Conversely, neglect may include parents who have sufficient income and resources but choose to spend the money on other things (e.g., alcohol, drugs, gambling, vacations, etc.)
Here are four examples:
- Poor school attendance
- Failure to schedule routine check-ups with facility Health Services staff
- Lack of routine in the facility
- A messy living space or common area that is not hazardous
Neglect Scenarios
1) Mica and James, both 15 years old, are playing basketball outside during their recreational time. While playing, James trips, falls to the ground, and cracks his collarbone. James tells the staff member on duty what happened and that he is in pain. The staff member fails to report the injury to health services and James is not seen until he mentions still being in pain to another staff member two days later and that staff member coordinates a visit to health services.
Are you required to report?
Correct: You are required to report.
Though James’ injury resulted from an accident, the staff member failed to report it and alert health services to James’ need to be seen. James was therefore unable to access necessary medical care.
Incorrect: You are required to report.
Though James’ injury resulted from an accident, the staff member failed to report it and alert health services to James’ need to be seen. James was therefore unable to access necessary medical care.
2) You work in a correctional facility on second shift with your coworker Jade. Over many shifts you observe Jade consistently singling out Laura, a 16-year-old youth on the unit, about her behavior—even for minor things—but largely ignoring the behavior of other youth on the unit. One day, Jade does not intervene when some of the other youth start to bully Laura, pushing her up against the wall more than once. When Laura shouts at the other youth to leave her alone, Jade sends Laura to her room without dinner or water and refuses to let her have out time for the rest of the evening.
Are you required to report?
Correct: You are required to report.
Laura is under the care and control of the staff at the facility that she is living at and Jade, as a staff member at that facility, has an obligation to protect Laura from harm and take care of her needs. Her failure to do these things has put Laura in danger and is a form of inadequate supervision for the youth in Jade’s care.
Incorrect: You are required to report.
Laura is under the care and control of the staff at the facility that she is living at and Jade, as a staff member at that facility, has an obligation to protect Laura from harm and take care of her needs. Her failure to do these things has put Laura in danger and is a form of inadequate supervision for the youth in Jade’s care.
3) When 14-year-old Ahmed is admitted to the group home where you work you notice that he looks extremely thin and that he has a large sore in his mouth that seems to be infected. When you talk to Ahmed some more, you find out while he has been living at home over the past few months his mother has been sleeping “all the time,” that he’s been trying to make meals for his five-year-old brother and four-year-old sister, but there’s hardly any food left in the house and that he’s had pain in his mouth for weeks but his mother hasn’t taken him to the dentist. He doesn’t want to get his mom in trouble, but he doesn’t know what to do any more.
Are you required to report?
Correct: You are required to report.
At a minimum, two basic needs were not being met when Ahmed was living at home: adequate food and dental care.
Even though the mother appeared to be at home, Ahmed was trying to carry out his parents’ responsibilities. There could be a number of legitimate reasons why the mom slept “all the time,” such as illness or depression, but the bottom line is the children’s basic needs were not being met. Ahmed needs dental treatment, and the status of the younger children is unknown, and there could be additional serious, even emergent, unmet needs.
Incorrect: You are required to report.
At a minimum, two basic needs were not being met when Ahmed was living at home: adequate food and dental care.
Even though the mother appeared to be at home, Ahmed was trying to carry out his parents’ responsibilities. There could be a number of legitimate reasons why the mom slept “all the time,” such as illness or depression, but the bottom line is the children’s basic needs were not being met. Ahmed needs dental treatment, and the status of the younger children is unknown, and there could be additional serious, even emergent, unmet needs.
4) You are a teacher at a school housed at a residential care center. One of your students, 17-year-old Sara, has missed four days of school. You ask Sara about this when she returns to school and she says that she was in the infirmary three of the days because she was sick and she had received permission to leave the RCC to visit with her father on the fourth day.
Are you required to report?
Correct: You are not required to report.
Poor school attendance is not neglect for the purpose of reporting child maltreatment. Remember that neglect is defined as the failure, refusal, or inability on the part of a caregiver, for reasons other than poverty, to provide necessary care so as to seriously endanger the physical health of the youth. Sara’s health was not endangered by her missing four days of school.
Incorrect: You are not required to report.
Poor school attendance is not neglect for the purpose of reporting child maltreatment. Remember that neglect is defined as the failure, refusal, or inability on the part of a caregiver, for reasons other than poverty, to provide necessary care so as to seriously endanger the physical health of the youth. Sara’s health was not endangered by her missing four days of school.
5) Tania has been very agitated recently, despite ongoing counseling and medical care. Though she often does fine during the daytime, Tania has mentioned wanting to hurt herself in the evenings, when she is particularly restless. Last year she punched a wall at her house and broke two fingers. Given this history and her recent behavior, Tania should be checked on every 15 minutes at night. The staff member on duty checks on her every 10-15 minutes during the first hour of her shift, but then forgets to do so again for more than an hour. In that time, Tania banged her head against the wall, resulting in a gash on her forehead and a possible concussion.
Are you required to report?
Correct: You are required to report.
Tania had threatened harm to herself and the facility developed a security check schedule to prevent that. The staff member on duty did not follow this process, resulting in inadequate supervision and an unsafe environment for Tania.
Incorrect: You are required to report.
Tania had threatened harm to herself and the facility developed a security check schedule to prevent that. The staff member on duty did not follow this process, resulting in inadequate supervision and an unsafe environment for Tania.
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