CHILD NEGLECT 2
Running head: CHILD NEGLECT 1
Child Neglect
Name
Institution
Child Neglect
This paper presents a child neglect rating of Aaron, a seven-year-old boy from Orlando, FL. In cases when children’s rights, especially the right to good care and ownership are deprived, one can determine the abuse rate through a child neglect score. When parents fail to provide basic needs to children like shelter, clothes, education, emotional needs, medical care, and supervision, it constitutes child neglect (Dean, Avery, & McDonald, 2016). The issue is cross-cultural, cutting across the society’s entire divide. The immediate symptom of the conundrum is a failure to thrive. A lack of immediate remedial action may jeopardize the child into long-term deleterious effects such as emotional, cognitive, and physical impairments. Response measures require coordinated efforts by professionals to detect, diagnose, and to provide therapy as well as social and legal protection.
Incidences of child neglect in the US have been all the time high with the U.S. State Department of Health and Human Services (2018) reporting that rates of neglect are the highest compared to any other forms of child abuse. In 2016, they reported more than 600 000 neglected children. The numbers are increasingly rising due to omission, as child neglect is hard to notice. The paper will address Aaron’s case of child negligence. In the schooling sector, teachers can identify child neglect by observing a child’s hygiene, weight, the rate of absenteeism, performance, and health care. Worst cases of these identified themes will reveal a child is undergoing neglect.
Aaron is a typical example of child neglect due to the failure by parents to offer adequate care to him. The first people to identify this neglect in Aaron are school personnel. Aaron showed severe child neglect indicators such as poor hygiene, social issues, physical abuse, and poor performance. To measure the rating of child neglects, a CNI scale is advised. CNI scale is a single page instrument measuring the six instrumental elements of child neglect, which include supervision, nutrition, food, clothing, hygiene and physical healthcare (Trocmé, 1996).
Supervision
The supervision scale determines whether there is appropriate safety to a child’s wellbeing or if a child is exposed to situations that might lead to harm. On the CNI rating, Aaron has an index of 60 on the supervision category. Aaron is a seriously inadequate child exposed to situations that may cause serious harm. Aaron’s family relocated to a new neighborhood was because of his exposure to a harmful situation. He witnessed a child shot while coming from school. This indicates that circumstances surrounding him were insecure. This exposure almost damaged his emotional wellbeing as he keeps talking about the incidence at school.
Lack of supervision happens when a child is left alone, and parents do not supervise on issues that have an impact on his academics, development, health, and social life. Failure by a parent to provide sufficient supervision signifies a failure in the provision of adequate safety and hygiene. Aaron was inadequately supervised because of three main factors: poor performance without any follow-ups, social issues and exposure to violence and deadly crimes. Aaron`s parents did not supervise his academics and could not make any follow-up for his performance. The parents do not supervise the boy’s dressing and hygiene. He is inappropriately dressed for the weather, his clothes are dirty, and he has a body odor. The parents fail to supervise and ensure that he is inappropriate and clean attire. The parents also did not supervise the content that the boy was watching. Despite his young age, he still watched R rated movies, which are likely to affect his development. They may advocate for violence, which may be the cause of his violent behavior. Aaron was violent and sometimes grabbing other children’s belongings without requesting. This behavior is connected with family life and is as a result of inadequate supervision as parents do not control the scripts that the boy is watching. When Aaron witnessed a boy was shot, the parent could not advance any support and guidance. His parents also did not care about the wounds in his hands. Despite his father admitting to having caused them, he could not take him for treatment.
Food and Nutrition
The CNI score for food and nutrition determines whether a child has regular access to nutritious food, or whether there is the inadequacy of food, or whether a child exhibits signs of malnutrition due to a lack of proper diet. Aaron`s case is 40. With this rating, a child’s meals are irregularly prepared, and one appears hungry. The report does not indicate that Aaron is malnourished. However, he suffered from hunger because he was found stealing snacks from the teachers’ purses on multiple occasions. Additionally, a visit to Aaron’s home revealed that the refrigerator was empty. This scenario shows that Aaron was not getting enough balanced diet. Multiple studies show that the nutritional status of school going children directly affects academic performance and healthy relationships among them. Balanced diet improves cognitive ability that will lead to positive results in academic achievement (Moss, 2015). Aaron was performing poorly at school, and this can be connected to a lack of food and overall balanced nutrition.
Clothing and Hygiene
The clothing and hygiene rating determines whether a child is appropriately clothed and how this extent could affect a child’s functioning and even result in illnesses that may require medical attention. Aaron’s outfit is inappropriate, which also reflects in his body hygiene. His CNI rating on clothing and hygiene is 20, considering that while he has inadequate clothing, he is still right on his mind although to some extent experiencing isolation. He is described as exuding a bad odor and being on the same clothes for two weeks. Aaron did not mind the weather by wearing shorts and a t-shirt when the temperatures were high and no right place for sleep, a sign of poor hygiene and a general lack of clothes. Aaron has trouble making friends and appears frightened with a heightened fear response from a person approaching him. This is also a sign of poor hygiene and a lack of clothes that makes him uncomfortable to sooth. Children with 40 CNI on clothing could also experience challenges in functioning, what might have led to his strange characters like being jumpy and inability to share by grabbing objects from people’s hands.
Aaron’s poor hygiene and lousy clothing is a depiction of physical child neglect. Proper clothing is a basic need for children. According to Wild Iris Medical Education (n.d.), lack of personal hygiene has severe impacts especially at a school and results in poor performance, development of aggression and unhealthy relationships. It is evident that Aaron tends to compare himself with other children concluding that his poor performance was because of his stupidity. He developed aggression and violence due to emotional disturbances.
Physical Care
The CNI rating for physical care determines whether a child has access to basic and preventive medical care. The level of a child’s exposure to injury also determines the extent through which to receive medical care. Aaron did not have severe injuries but exposure to an emotional situation that could risk his health, thus, he can be rated 20 on the CNI score. Aaron has not had a checkup with his pediatrician for a year. He has bruises, frequently crying in the bathroom, sucking thumb, witnessed gun violence, and watching R-rated movies meant for adults. These cases point to a lack of basic and preventive medical care. Aaron`s parent was responsible for the bruises, but he did not mind knowing the extent of physical damage by seeking medical attention.
Mental Care
Aaron is diagnosed with severe emotional and behavior problems. The CNI score for mental care measures parents response to a child’s emotional needs and determines whether such a response is consistent or not. The scale also measures whether there are services provided to cater for the child’s emotional needs. Thus, Aaron has a 60 CNI rating because of the prevalent behavior problems and emotional distress. Aaron is exposed to a harmful situation like the case when he witnessed another boy killed. This exposure damages his emotional wellbeing, and it is the reason why he signs like aggression and unhealthy relationships with other children. His parents have not enrolled him in mental care for counseling after witnessing violence.
Educational/Developmental Care
The education section assesses whether a child’s education and development needs are met or not consistently met. In case of any developmental problem, the rating determines whether there are corresponding services that address this need. The scale also points to the possibility of a child succumbing to severe delays because of the associated problem.
The CNI score is 20 for this category since the child was not diagnosed with any learning disabilities. Educational neglect results from the failure of parents to provide basic developmental needs to a child such as education (Wert, Fallon, Trocmé & Collin-Vézina, 2018). In the case of Aaron, these needs were inconsistently met. The parents took him to school; yet, they could not provide him study books or toys for improving academic performance. The parents could not make calls to school to inquire about his well-being because of the economic condition. They could not even attend any teaching conference. Additionally, they were not aware of the child’s poor performance and abnormal behaviors at school.
Overall/Final Neglect Score
On average, Aaron has an index of 36.6. The overall index across all categories is 220 considering that he rates 60 on the supervision, 40 on food and nutrition, 20 on clothing and hygiene, 20 on physical care, 60 on mental health, and 20 on education and development. Taking into account that his age bracket falls in 6-12 years, he has an additional 5 CNI rating, and thus Aaron has an average of 45 CNI score. This implies that his neglect is substantial. There is a need for proper intervention, counseling, and guidance to prevent exacerbation of his emotional and behavior problems. Intervention should also target his overall hygiene, basic needs like food and clothes, and general supervision.
References
Dean, J. A., Avery, D. R., & McDonald, R. E. (2016). McDonald and Avery’s Dentistry for the child and adolescent/[edited by] Jeffrey A. Dean, DDS, MSD, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Ralph E. McDonald Professor of Pediatric Dentistry and Professor of Orthodontics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, Indianapolis, Indiana, James E. Jones, DMD, MSD, EdD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Indiana University School of ….
Moss, F. (2015). Child neglect: Assessment and prevention.New York: Nova Science.
Trocmé, N. (1996). Development and Preliminary evaluation of the Ontario child neglect index. Child Maltreatment, 1(2), 145-155.
Wert, M. V., Fallon, B., Trocmé, N., & Collin-Vézina, D. (2018).Educational neglect: Understanding 20 years of child welfare trends. Child Abuse & Neglect, 75, 50-60.
Wild Iris Medical Education. (n.d.).Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse, Neglect, and Maltreatment. Retrieved from https://wildirismedicaleducation.com/courses/child-abuse-training-