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Neglect – Assessment questionnaire

What evidence is there of Persistence? i.e. has the neglect been present over a significant
period of time and have efforts to intervene to minimise or prevent neglect had any
significant impact in the past?
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Is this long term chronic neglect or an acute response to a family’s current circumstance?
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What kind of neglect is this? Does it relate to:

 child's basic physical needs

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 child's emotional and attachment needs

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 child's cognitive development

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 child's medical needs

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 Child’s needs for safety and security?

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 exclusion from home or abandonment

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Author: Jane Wiffin
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 failing to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger

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 unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs

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 Is it Global -are all areas of a child’s development impacted upon?

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What is the harm to the child/young person?

 Short term (including impact on day to day life)

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 Medium term

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 Long term (making reference to research findings)

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What is driving the failure to provide care by carer?

 Poverty

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 Lack of skills and knowledge

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Author: Jane Wiffin
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 lack of skills and knowledge plus social isolation

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 Parenting capacity

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 Domestic violence

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 Learning disability

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 Substance misuse

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 Mental health issues

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 Parental separation and divorce

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 Lack of a relationship of care

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Author: Jane Wiffin
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Is this an act of omission or commission and how is this affecting your thinking?
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Do you have information available which suggest an intergenerational pattern of neglect

or abuse in this family?
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What other kinds of abuse is the neglect driving or enabling?

 Sexual abuse
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 Physical abuse
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 Emotional Abuse

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Use your analysis of the responses you have given to the questions above to help in case discussions
and planning and decision making.There is no scoring sheet for this questionnaire but completion
will help in developing an informed view of the complexity of the neglect and the likely prospect for
change.

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Author: Jane Wiffin