Neglect and serious case reviews (PDF, 735KB) - nspcc

situation or dangers posed by, for example dangerous links to local gangs. There is little
support for neglected young people in the transition to adulthood.
Suicide and young people with unrecognized needs
Summary
malnutrition
While most of these young people who took their own lives had been well known
to agencies over a number of years, there were others who killed themselves whose
problems were largely missed by agencies and whose needs went largely unrecognized
by professionals, ‘… even the schools did not get to know her well enough to identify
other problems (other than non school attendance)’.
Young people’s experience of neglect was less likely to be known by professionals when
they were isolated and effectively abandoned. Multiple family moves could mean the
young person was rarely in school or always the newcomer with few opportunities to
socialize or make friends. Being constantly on the move could also mean that access to
medical and mental health support was restricted or appointments missed. In some cases
where young people were particularly isolated, parents restricted any access to support
services so that young people had no one to confide in. School is often the only potential
source of support which can be accessed without parental knowledge and the only way
a young person can find someone outside of the family to confide in. In situations where
the neglect is combined with control and psychological maltreatment, parental hostility
can mean adolescents are completely off the professional radar.
Anonymised case summaries from 46 SCRs from 2003–2011 where serious neglect was
known to be a prominent feature, were analysed within a six-fold typology of neglect
related circumstances which had a catastrophic impact on the child (and family). A
vignette made up of a number of cases was used to illustrate themes for each typology.
There are learning points in relation to each of the six ‘routes’ to a catastrophic outcome
involving neglect and some overriding, general point applicable to most.
For this research malnutrition is defined as ‘life-threatening loss of weight or failure to
gain weight or serious conse quences of neglecting to nourish the child’.
Learning points:
3. A thematic analysis of neglect
• None of the children who died or nearly died from malnutrition were in the child
protection system. Their links with any agency were almost non-existent by the time
of their death or serious harm.
• Increased isolation of a family adds to the invisibility of the child or children within
that family so malnutrition is not spotted (eg when children cease to attend
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