Vol.
2, No. 1
Winter 1997
Neglect:
Searching for Interventions
Child neglect is a serious problem--nationally,
neglect occurs 50 percent more frequently than abuse, according
to the latest figures from the National Center on Child Abuse and
Neglect.
Neglect can be just as deadly as abuse. While the
American Humane Association found 44.3 percent of maltreatment fatalities
involved neglect, others have found that more children die from
neglect than from abuse (Brown, 1987).
In North Carolina, the percentage of children reported
as neglected has remained at about 80 percent of all referrals for
the last five years. Of these neglect referrals, about 90 percent
have been substantiated (NCDSS, 1996).
This issue of Practice Notes looks at the
factors that contribute to neglect and provides some insights into
effective interventions for this problem.
