The Intersection of Abuse and Neglect and Poverty, By Rutledge Q. Hutson, Director of Child Welfare Policy, Center for Law and Social Policy
Posted May 26, 2010
Poverty
is the single best predictor of child abuse and neglect. This is not to say that most poor parents
abuse or neglect their children—indeed
the vast majority does not. In 2008,
there were nearly 14 million poor children and about three quarters of a
million children were found to be abused or neglected after an investigation by
authorities. The true incidence of
maltreatment is as high as three million children annually—but even that number shows that most poor parents are not
abusing or neglecting their children. Nonetheless,
poverty and socioeconomic status are consistently the best predictors of child
abuse and neglect. In addition, those
who experience abuse and neglect as children are much more likely to experience
a host of lifelong challenges, including poverty, in their adulthoods.
Undoubtedly, poverty contributes to
maltreatment and maltreatment to poverty in a myriad of complex ways. But it is useful to think of three basic
pathways:
- For
some, poverty and the lack of resources associated with it prevent parents
from adequately caring for their children.
Think of the single mother who can find work only during the night
shift but cannot afford child care during that time. She must decide whether to leave her
children alone so she can work to put clothes on their backs, a roof
overhead, and food on the table. She may tuck the children in bed, kiss them
goodnight, hope that they do not awaken, and pray that nothing happens
before she returns.
- For
others, the stress of poverty may serve as the straw that breaks the
camel’s back. Think of the father
who has recently lost his job and no longer has the patience to cope with
a crying newborn or a defiant toddler, and lashes out by shaking the child
for the few seconds it takes to cause permanent brain damage or
death.
- For others, underlying conditions – substance abuse,
domestic violence, or mental health issues – may interfere with a parent’s
ability both to hold down a job and to care for her children—thus leading to poverty and maltreatment. Think of the mother who was abused as a
child and is now in a relationship fraught with domestic violence. She is struggling with depression and
using alcohol or drugs in an attempt to cope. All of these factors prevent her from
reliably attending work, and therefore she cannot keep a job. She also neglects her children and
sometimes lashes out at them emotionally and physically.
What can we do to help these
families? For those in the first two
pathways, providing access to income supports, quality child care, food
assistance, housing assistance, and health care will immediately help ease
stress and provide crucial resources that will mitigate the hardship of poverty
and prevent maltreatment. Longer term,
these families need access to quality education and job training so the parents,
and later the children, can find and keep good jobs. For those in the third pathway, we must
address the underlying conditions if we are to make any headway lifting the
family out of poverty and preventing the children from experiencing abuse or
neglect.
In all cases, we must have a
continuum of services and supports that address the individual needs of
children and families. These services
and supports must be coordinated so that families with the greatest challenges
do not have to leap through multiple hoops to get what they need. Families should be able to get the range of supports
they need whether they turn to their pediatrician, child care provider, school,
community center, or social services office.
There should be no “wrong door.”
Much of the work of creating such an
integrated service delivery system must happen at state and local levels. However, federal funding streams and policies
can make such coordination and integration easier or harder. Anti-poverty advocates together with child welfare
advocates should work to ensure that policies, programs, and funding streams enable,
rather than hinder, the creation of a seamless web of supports for poor
children and families.
Rutledge Q. Hutson is the Director of Child Welfare Policy
at the Center for Law and Social Policy.
Viewpoints in this section solely represent the authors’ opinions and not the opinions of "Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity."