In our past articles we have discussed about various social issues faced by children. Adding to those, we are going to discuss on another topic which most of us are not aware of. This month we are going to discuss about child neglect. For most of this term and concept might be new. So before going into the depths of the problem, let’s just see what does the term or concept of child neglect actually mean? Child neglect can be defined as a type of maltreatment that refers to the failure by the caregiver to provide needed, age appropriate care. James M.Gaudin has noted in his book on child neglect quoted that compared with non maltreated and abused children, neglected children have the worst delays in language comprehension and expression.
Child neglect may not be common in our locality but around the globe it has a significant importance. Looking back at some of the stats from India, children in the first year of their life had the highest rate of victimization of 23.1 per 1000 children in the national population of the same age. Of the children who experienced maltreatment or abuse, nearly 80% suffered neglect in the year 2015. Hope this would have turned as a shocker to most of us.
The question that you can reckon is how does a child get neglected? Here are some forms of child neglect.

• Physical neglect
• Emotional neglect
• Medical neglect
• Educational neglect

To take a closer look on the types, lets first brush on physical neglect. In physical neglect the child is neglected in giving the basic physical needs like food clothing shelter due to various reasons. The reasons can be deliberate or accidental, yet it can give the child a direct effect on the behavior of the child. Moving on to emotional neglect, there are instances when the child needs pampering, love and special attention, when such emotions are not given at the prescribed time, the child feels emotionally neglected from the caretakers. Emotional neglecting is most common among the others.  Medical neglect happens less often, where the child would be neglected of proper medical treatment. The last one is the educational neglect where the child can be denied of quality education, special attention for the lagging children and lack of education.
Neglecting children are most often felt by the elder child when they feel that their younger sibling is pampered more than them. Girl children are neglected in some villages. Children feel the sense of neglecting by their teachers who are partial for various reasons. This concept of neglecting has a direct impact on the psychological behavior of the child, which later reflects on their character when they become adults. Such children turn out to be a threat to the society. Neglecting can be overcome by giving equal importance for all children and taking care in the overall development of the child. Giving a sense of security among the children will pave way for their bright future.

J.Steffey Sherine
Kids Prodigy writer and social worker
Tuticorin