The Issues of Neglected Children

The Issues of Neglected Children

“ “Child”: means a boy or a girl apparently or effectively aged less than eighteen years” (Van Stolk 146).

“Rich kids, middle-class kids, poor kids - all deal with risk and neglect on a scale unimagined in previous generations” (Hewitt 11). There are problems of poverty, absentee parents, divorce, violence and drugs, plus much more that is simply out of hand. Deprivation and rejection dominate the lives of many children, among both poor and middle-class.

We cannot ensure the safety of children on the streets or in our homes. On the educational front the news is even more disturbing, since underachievement and failure are now very popular.

Something else that contributes to child neglect is a fast rate of family breakdown. This is an effect of divorce and rapid increase in single parent pregnancies. Couples marrying today face an even higher chance of divorcing at some point during their lives together. “A family’s deterioration can come about in ways other than separation” (Wilson 50). Staying together, in certain conditions and situations may increase further economical or psychological problems that may affect the child. Social attitudes today are scarcely more tolerant. “With the ratio of one divorce in four marriages moving towards one in three, we have been forced to look beyond those unexamined assumptions to asses realistically the changing role and changing needs of the family in Canadian society” ( Canadian Council 28).

For women, and their children, divorce can often put severe economic hardships on them. Another part of family breakdown can occur when the absence of a male presence or male support to single mother families. “In the years following divorce living standards for ex-wives drop by an average of 30 percent while those for men rise an 8 percent” (Hewitt 41). Although babies from teenage girls have declined, the unmarried single parent teenagers who have children has risen rapidly. “There are now close to half a million live births to unwed teenagers every year” (Hewitt 41).

The children in our society are defined by their dependent status. “From birth, to early adulthood, children must look to others to provide the adequate and dependable economic support required to meet their needs” (Canadian Council 21). Even in early childhood, they cannot support themselves and even if th...

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...ore worth doing than easing the pain and improving the life chances of vulnerable, blameless children” (Hewitt 283). We need to invest in our children to save ourselves from further disaster.

An additional distinctive character, is if we revise our civil policies so that children may prosper, it will greatly improve the economic status of women. “Enhancing and enforcing child support awards eases the lives of the children of divorce but also bolsters the standard living of ex-wives; mandating parental leave improves life circumstances of infants but also protects the earning power of women and reduces wage gap..” (Hewitt 282).

“If we fail to look after our children they will drag this nation down” (Hewitt 10).

Bibliography:

1. Canadian Council on Children and Youth. Admittance restricted: The child as citizen in Canada. Ottawa, Ont. , c1978.

2. Hewitt, Sylvia Ann. When the bough breaks: the cost of neglecting our children. New York, New York. 1987.

3. Van Stolk, Mary. The battered child in Canada. Rev. ed.Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, c1978.

4. Wilson, Jeffrey. Up against it : Children and the law in Canada. Toronto, Anasi. c1980.