Since I started my blog 9 years ago, I haven't talked about my child neglect in detail and unless as the child you look at each situation independently of another, it’s not always easy to understand that what you have been through, is in fact neglect. I didn’t equate or understand that having my disability ignored was neglect. But neglect never leaves. The mental scars shadow any new experiences. There were physical struggles too.

Child Neglect ignores a Child's Basic Needs

Child neglect ignores a child’s basic needs, in other words failing to provide adequate emotional, social and educational needs, in my case ignoring the basics of helping me understand and giving me the emotional and mental support I needed to deal with a physical, mental and emotional disability. Being kept in the dark for 46 years is something I still struggle to reconcile. Through detailed correspondence, I now know that my condition was known to my consultant. After further discussions with another consultant, they concluded that nothing could be changed around my father. In the end, my needs were set aside.

Child neglect and Society

Although child neglect depends on how society handles the parent’s behaviour, not all authorities will know about or ask about a child's circumstances. It is exactly what happened to me. Had the consultant, however hard it was for him, followed my case through, the authorities would have been informed and I would have got the help I needed to function in what was my normal in my school years.

Where options are available and parents fail to provide for their child, that is different from failure to provide for their child, where options aren’t available.