Child Welfare Information Gateway
Skip to main content
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  • Administration for Children & Families
  • Children's Bureau
Child Welfare Information Gateway
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   

Home Topics Publications Library State Resources More Tools & Resources News & Events
REPORT ABUSE OR
NEGLECT
FIND HELP WITH A
PERSONAL SITUATION   
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Free Subscriptions
  • Resources in Spanish
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Chat
  • Resources in Spanish
  • Shopping Cart
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Family-Centered Practice
      • Philosophy and Key Elements of Family-Centered Practice
      • Family-Centered Practice Across the Service Continuum
      • Engaging Families
      • Family-Centered Casework Practice
      • Family Group Decision-Making
      • Engaging Communities to Support Families
      • Creating a Family-Centered Agency Culture
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Definitions of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Identification of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Risk Factors That Contribute to Child Abuse and Neglect
      • People Who Engage in Child Abuse or Neglect
      • Impact of Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Child Abuse & Neglect Fatalities
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
      • Overview: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
      • Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Programs
      • Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
      • Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
      • Evidence-Based Practice for Child Abuse Prevention
      • Evaluating Prevention Programs
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Introduction to Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
      • Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
      • Assessment in Child Protection
      • Differential Response in Child Protective Services
      • Child Protection Casework Practice
      • Responding to Child Maltreatment Near Fatalities and Fatalities
      • Trauma-Informed Practice in Child Welfare
      • Collaborative Responses to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
      • Supporting Families With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
      • Introduction to Family Support and Preservation
      • In-Home Services Involved With Child Protection
      • Family Support Services
      • Resources for Managers of Family Support and Preservation Services
      • Family Preservation Services
    • Out-of-Home Care
      • National Foster Care Month
      • Overview: Out-of-Home Care
      • Foster Care
      • Group and Residential Care
      • Kinship Care
      • Casework Practice in Out-of-Home Care
      • Transition to Adulthood and Independent Living
      • Placement Decisions
      • Resources for Foster Families
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Overview: Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
      • Reunifying Families
      • Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families
      • Permanency With Relatives and Kin
      • Guardianship
      • Permanency for Specific Youth Populations
      • Legal and Court Issues in Permanency
      • Interjurisdictional Placements
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families in Permanency Planning
      • Working With Children, Youth, and Families After Permanency
      • Resources for Administrators and Managers About Permanency
      • Resources for Families About Permanency
    • Adoption
      • National Adoption Month
      • Children's Bureau Adoption Call to Action
      • All-In Foster Adoption Challenge
      • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
      • Introduction to Adoption
      • Ethical Issues in Adoption
      • For Adopted People
      • For Adoption Program Managers & Administrators
      • For Expectant Parents Considering Adoption and Birth Parents
      • How to Adopt
      • Laws Related to Adoption
      • Parenting After Adoption
      • Postplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Preplacement Adoption Casework Practice
      • Search & Reunion in Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
      • Administering & Managing Child Welfare Agencies & Programs
      • Child Welfare Practice Improvement
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Ethical Practice & Client Rights
      • Evaluating Program and Practice Effectiveness
      • Funding
      • Information Systems & Data
      • Supervising Child Welfare Services
      • System Reform
      • Training
      • Workforce
    • Systemwide
      • Assessment
      • Behavioral Health & Wellness
      • Courts
      • Cultural Responsiveness
      • Diverse Populations and Communities
      • Domestic Violence
      • Human Trafficking
      • Laws & Policies
      • Service Array
      • Statistics
      • Well-Being
      • Youth
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Topic
    • Browse by Title
    • índice de Títulos en Español (Spanish Title Index)
  • Library
    • Library Search Help
    • Library Services
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals Search
    • State-Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption and Guardianship Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Resources From the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants
      • The Story of the Children's Bureau
      • Children's Bureau Video Series
    • Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series
      • Episode 84: What Does an Effective Support System Look Like?
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
  • News & Events
    • Free Subscriptions
    • Adoption Triad
    • Children's Bureau Express (CBX)
    • The Grantee Connection
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • Home
  • Topics
  • Child Abuse & Neglect
  • People Who Engage in Child Abuse or Neglect
  • People Who Engage in Neglect

People Who Engage in Neglect

Neglect of a child is described as the failure of a parent or caregiver to provide food, shelter, clothing, or medical care or the failure of a parent or caregiver to care for a child to a degree that the child’s health, safety, and well-being are subject to harm and injury. Neglect is the most common type of maltreatment. On this page, discover resources and research on the characteristics of parents or caregivers who neglect their children.

Associations Between Family Risk Factors and Child Neglect Types in U.S. Army Communities
Cozza, Ogle, Fisher, Zhou, Whaley, Fullerton, & Ursano (2019)
Child Maltreatment, 24(1)
Examines cases of neglect in U.S. Army communities and family factors associated with elevated risk of several types of neglect. Findings showed that mental health problems and larger family size were associated with risk of supervisory neglect, while family disagreements were associated with an increased risk for emotional neglect.

Child Neglect
American Society for the Positive Care of Children
Explains different types of neglect, including physical neglect, general neglect, severe neglect, psycho-social failure to thrive, and prenatal neglect, and describes how they are caused by caregivers or parents.

Child Neglect 
Vardigan (2019)
HealthDay
Defines several types of neglect, including physical, medical, educational, and psychological or emotional. The article also explores incidences of neglect, signs of neglect, outcomes of neglect, and why parents neglect their children.

Child Neglect and the Broader Context of Child Victimization
Turner, Vanderminden, Finkelhor, & Hamby (2019)
Child Maltreatment, 24(3)
Examines the connection between socioeconomic factors and two different types of child neglect and how neglect is associated with risk factors for other types of victimization. Findings from the study showed that physical neglect is associated with economic stressors on parents, while low parental education level is associated with both supervisory neglect and physical neglect.

Contributing Factors to Child Abuse and Neglect
Children's Wisconsin
Describes contributing factors that could make a parent or caregiver more likely to neglect and abuse children, including a history of being abused, stress, substance use, mental health issues, and other factors.

How Can Understanding Risk and Protective Factors Predict Chronic Neglect for CPS-Involved Families?
Casey Family Programs (2020) 
Examines the use of risk assessment tools to predict chronic neglect and shows that parent cognitive impairment, history of substitute care, and mental health problems, as well as a higher number of allegations in a report, are the strongest predictors. Having younger parents, being in a family with higher numbers of children, and being in a family with a child under age 1 were also predictors of neglect.

Social Work Online Course: Characteristics of Abusive Caretakers
Adelphi University 
Offers information about neglectful and abusive caretakers, including a list of caregiver and parent factors that are likely to be present, such as a history of neglect or abuse, lack of social support, low self-esteem, substance use, mental health problems, and more.

Understanding the Six Types of Neglect
Kaplan Early Learning Company 
Outlines six types of neglect: physical, medical, supervisory, environmental, educational, and emotional. The article describes the role of parents and caretakers in these different forms of neglect and explains why they may occur. 

Working With Parents Where Neglect Is an Issue 
New South Whales (Australia) Government, Department of Communities and Justice, Practice Live (2017) 
Describes how child welfare professionals can work with parents who neglect their children. The article reviews what parents think of neglect, how neglectful parents perceive themselves, how parents seek help, practice implications, and more.

(Back to Top)

Spotlight On

Children's Bureau - An office of the Administration for Children and Families

Child Welfare Information Gateway is a service of the

  • Children’s Bureau
  • Administration for Children and Families
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
↑ Back to top
  • HOME
  • TOPICS
    • Family-Centered Practice
    • Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Responding to Child Abuse & Neglect
    • Supporting & Preserving Families
    • Out-of-Home Care
    • Achieving & Maintaining Permanency
    • Adoption
    • Management & Supervision
    • Systemwide
  • National Initiatives
    • National Adoption Month
    • National Child Abuse Prevention Month
    • National Foster Care Month
  • Publications
    • Publications Series
    • Browse by Title
    • Browse by Topic
    • Índice de Títulos en Español
  • Library
    • Search the Library
  • State Resources
    • State Statutes
    • National Foster Care & Adoption Directory
    • State Guides & Manuals
    • State Related Organizations Lists
    • Adoption Assistance by State
  • More Tools & Resources
    • Related Organizations
    • Learning Center
    • Children's Bureau Resources
    • Information Gateway Podcast
    • Multimedia
  • NEWS AND EVENTS
    • New on Information Gateway
    • New From the Children's Bureau
    • Event Calendar
  • ABOUT US
    • How to Report Child Abuse or Neglect
    • Find Help With a Personal Situation
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Glossary
    • Search A to Z
  • Contact Us
    • 1-800-394-3366
    • info@childwelfare.gov
    • Subscribe to Free Updates
    • Chat With Us
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube
  • POLICIES & HELPFUL LINKS
    • Disclaimer and Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility
    • FOIA requests
    • No FEAR Act data
    • Office of the Inspector General
    • Performance reports
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
    • USA.gov
    • Download Acrobat Reader
    • Login
  • ↑ Back to top