Report a concern about a child
What is neglect
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.
Cheshire West and Chester SCP have more information about identifying neglect:
Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse or failure to participate in ante-natal care. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:
- Provide adequate food, shelter and clothing (including exclusion from home or abandonment);
- Protect a child from physical harm or danger;
- Respond to a child’s basic emotional needs;
- Ensure adequate supervision (including inadequate substitute care-givers);
- Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment.
Signs which may suggest neglect:
- Squalid, unhygienic or dangerous home conditions;
- Parents fail to attend to their children's health or development needs;
- Children appear persistently undersized or underweight;
- Children continually appear tired or lacking in energy;
- Children suffer frequent injuries due to lack of supervision;
- The child is not attached or is anxiously attached to the parent;
- The child is not regularly sent to school including preschool;
- Developmental delay due to lack of stimulation;
- The child has cold skin mottled with pink or purple;
- The child has swollen limbs with pitted sores which are slow to heal;
- The child’s skin condition is poor, especially in the nappy area;
- The child has dry sparse hair;
- The child stays frozen in one position for an unnaturally long time.
