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Child neglect

An NSPCC priority

Neglect is defined as "the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs" (see the full definition of neglect).

Neglect is the most common reason for a child to be the subject of a child protection plan or on a child protection register in the UK.  Almost 21,000 children in the UK are registered under a category that includes neglect (45% of all children who were subject of a child protection plan or on a child protection register).

But research tells us that neglect is often not recognised by professionals until there have been serious and/or repeat referrals (Gardner, 2008) and self referrals for neglect, whether by children or parents, are rare in comparison to other forms of harm.

The NSPCC will be undertaking activities to investigate how child neglect can be better recognised, understood, tackled and prevented.


The following pages set out what we know about child neglect:

Definition of child neglect 

Key publications on child neglect 

Statistics on child neglect 

NSPCC publications on child neglect

NSPCC training course on child neglect

 

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Contact the NSPCC Information Service for specialist information on child neglect or any child protection topic

Share this page: www.nspcc.org.uk/neglect

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Copyright © 2011 NSPCC - All rights reserved. National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Weston House, 42 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3NH. Incorporated by Royal Charter. Registered charity number 216401. NSPCC, charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC037717.