Preventing neglect

Almost one in 10 children in the UK have been neglected by their parents

Problems of neglect are severe, making up nearly half of all abuse cases in England. Yet incidences often get overlooked because they are rarely reported, compared to other types of harm.

How it happens

Neglect may occur during pregnancy when a mother abuses substances. Once a child is born, a parent or carer can cause neglect by failing to:

provide adequate food, clothing and shelter
protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger
provide adequate supervision
ensure access to medical care or treatment when needed
respond to a child's emotional needs.

What we know

In the UK:

the number of neglected children has increased in some areas
children who are neglected are likely to be left more than once
current prevention and treatment programmes for neglect are not doing enough
over half those children placed in care following neglect return back home to the same situation.

The damaging effects of severe neglect can lead to accidental injuries, poor health, disability, poor emotional and physical development, lack of self-esteem, mental health problems and even suicide.

Our services helping to prevent neglect

The NSPCC is running five new programmes to prevent child neglect. These include:

Graded Care Profile - Trialling a national evaluation tool for assessing the care of children and identifying neglect.
Improving parenting, improving practice - Testing new approaches to help support parents struggling to care for their children.
SafeCare® - Helping parents give children under five the high level of care and attention they need.
Making evidence-based decisions for neglected children - this aims to support professionals in making timely and robust decisions for children in the most complex neglect cases.

We want to do as much as we can to prevent the neglect of children.