The impact of persistent neglect cannot be underestimated. It is well documented that children who are neglected over a long period of time will have their physical and emotional development restricted.
Children who are living with neglect are likely to experience difficulties:
- Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships both in the short and long-term
- Reaching their full educational potential and being able to move on to education, employment or training
- Developing confidence in themselves and their abilities
- Developing good emotional health and strategies to cope with challenges in their life
While other types of 'complex safeguarding' i.e. Child Sexual Exploitation, Female Genital Mutilation, Child Trafficking etc. dominate the media; it is important to remember that neglect remains the most common form of child abuse across the UK, and in Bolton.
Neglect is one of the forms of child abuse where there are opportunities to improve identification, make predictions about the likelihood of its continued occurrence and take more effective and earlier interventions to reduce the impact on a child. local and national case reviews has shown that there are often a number of missed opportunities to identify early or emerging patterns neglect, but sadly those opportunities are either not recognised or not responded to.
Bolton Safeguarding Children Partnership is clear and strong in stating they will work with all partners to ensure that no opportunity is missed and no opportunity ignored to respond to child neglect.
This page has been developed to help practitioners access a range of resources, including our new Acting on Neglect; A Local Resource Pack 2022, to help them identify and respond to neglect.
