What’s New in Psychology?
Support Needed for Abused and Neglected Children
Jim Windell
There is no doubt that childhood abuse will potentially have negative impacts throughout the school years and into adulthood. Some researchers have even suggested that childhood abuse, neglect and trauma can change the brain structure or chemical functions of the body.
Furthermore, there is evidence that abuse in the early years my lead to awkwardness in social situations, learning deficits and mental health challenges.
But new research indicates that young victims of child abuse and neglect may be delayed across all aspects of development prior to entering school.
In a study recently published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, researchers at the University of South Australia point out the urgency of ensuring that children who have been abused or neglected receive support prior to entering school for the first time. This, they say, may allow them to be as close to developmentally on track as possible.
The researchers analyzed the records of nearly 75,000 South Australian children born between 2003 and 2014 and in this group identified 1345 who had suffered substantiated abuse before starting school. Of this number, 666 were in foster care, lived with a relative or were placed in a residential setting. Looking at the developmental outcomes for these neglected and abused kids, University of South Australia researchers found that some children were at high risk of being significantly delayed in all or nearly all areas of development before they started school.
Specifically, those children who were removed into out-of-home care, it was found that:
- 27% of them were less likely to be vulnerable on Physical Health and Wellbeing (including gross and fine motor skills, readiness for school, being tired or hungry);
- 21% were less likely to be vulnerable on Language and Cognitive Skills;and
- 19% were doing better in Communication Skills and General Knowledge.
These same children were more likely vulnerable in other areas:
- 14% were more likely to be very behind in Social Competence(how they get on with other children); and
- 20% were more likely to display poor Emotional Maturity(ability to control their emotions, sense of wellbeing).
The study found that young boys, in particular, fare far worse than girls, and boys are more likely to be vulnerable on every developmental domain. For example, 44% of young boys with substantiated child abuse were emotionally vulnerable, compared with 21% of girls with substantiated child abuse; this compares to only 14% of boys who had no substantiation of abuse or neglect.
According to the University of South Australia’s Professor Leonie Segal, more must be done during the first five years to help children who have abused or neglected so they are on track developmentally.
“Being developmentally behind at the start of school is a predictive indicator of poor educational outcomes,” Professor Segal says. “It is also likely associated with poor emotional and social outcomes as a teenager or young adult. If we don’t identify and respond to these risks early in life, these children will grow up and perpetuate cycles of disadvantage.”
Although Segal, who leads the Health Economics and Social Policy Group at the Australian Centre for Precision Health at the University of South Australia, concedes that out-of-home care may better meet a child’s basic needs, especially for good nutrition, access to health care, sleep, and offer a more enriching and nurturing environment, still she says that children’s social and emotional development may be compromised.
Fellow researcher and Ph.D. candidate Krystal Lanais says their research highlights the acute need for professional therapeutic support for children in care. “Removing a child from their birth family, in over-riding parental rights, and separating children from their parents, is a serious and costly undertaking – and a last resort to address the most serious child safety concerns,” Lanais says. “And yet, it cannot be expected that out-of-home care will resolve deep-seated serious early life trauma, evident in social and emotional distress, without professional support.”
Lanais says that this study confirms the unmet developmental needs in children with serious child protection concerns, and the urgency to provide appropriate, intensive services before school commencement – in order “to give these children the best chance in life.”
To read the original study, find it with this reference:
Lanais, K., Gnanamanickam, E., Maclean, M., & Segal, L. (2024). Investigating the impact of Out-of-Home Care on early childhood development. Child Abuse & Neglect, 154, 106856.