Neglect Can Be Very Difficult to Identify

Neglect can be very difficult to identify and minimize. Parents who experience poverty, live in low-income neighborhoods, raise children as single parents, and receive little to no educational training are at higher risk of neglecting their children. Programs like the Child-Parent Center program encourages interactions between children and their parents as well as parents and the schools their children attend.

In a study by Mersky and Reynolds (2009), they compare the children within the Child-Parent program to other public kindergarten programs to see how the children fares in regards to lower rates of neglect. The Child-Parent Center program was first established in 1967. Through Title 1 funding, it became the second oldest federally funded preschool program in the country with Head Start being the first of its kind. Chicago became a place for the Child-Parent Center program to set up programs within the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.

It was meant to help children who were not in Head Start receive the services they needed. These programs allow for children to receive the help necessary to perform well in school and also teaches parents to bond with their children and opens them up to training and potential job opportunities. Thanks to these programs, neglect rates have been shown to decrease with parents who actively participate in them.

"Intensive family preservation services and parent training programs are among the primary mechanisms by which child welfare agencies might impact neglect rates" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 67). The service providers of the program have general eligibility requirements that must be met in order for the parent and child to participate in the program.

"As shown in Figure 1, eligible children may receive Child-Parent Center educational and family support services for up to 6 years, including 1 or 2 years of preschool, 1 year of kindergarten, and 3 years of school-age programming (grades 1-3)" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 69). The services the Child-Parent Centers offer are varied with training offered for both parents and children. "Children who attend the Child-Parent Centers receive a structured educational curriculum that focuses on language development, literacy, and numeracy" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p.

69).The children who participate in the program also receive besides the additional or supplemental training, physical and nutritional health services that comprise of preliminary medical screenings. The requirements for the program, particularly for the parents is to spend at minimum, one half-day a week at their child's school. This requirement encourages and facilitates parent-child interactions, including parent and child attachments to school along with common support among parents. For parents, there are potential training opportunities available.

Parents are encouraged to take advantage of other resources provided by the program, including adult vocational and educational training. Families as a whole receive a minimum of one visit when they become enrolled. Additionally a school-community liaison also may help marshal resources from social services and community agencies. The evaluation of the program within the article, was conducted through a study. Their evaluation was based on determining whether or not the program had an impact on lowering rates of neglect.

"This investigation extends previous Chicago Longitudinal Study research by examining whether Child-Parent Center preschool participation was associated with lower rates of transitory and chronic neglect" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 69). Furthermore, the study also tries to analyze relations between select risk indicators and both temporary and long-lasting neglect. The methodology included information from the Chicago Longitudinal Study that at the moment of writing the articles is ongoing and observes 1,539 underprivileged, minority children of which 93% are African-American and 7% Hispanic. From the original sample, 989 of the children studied joined Child-Parent Center preschools.

They were matched with 550 children who attended other public kindergarten programs. The children who attended non-Child-Parent programs matched the same demographics as those who were. The evaluation of the program had favorable statements such as: "Children who attend the Child-Parent Centers receive a structured educational curriculum that focuses on language development, literacy, and numeracy" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 69) and "Children also receive nutritional and physical health services, including initial medical screenings" (Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2009, p. 69).

The evaluation went on further to discuss what sets the program apart from other programs. The main reason it differentiates itself from other programs is the added emphasis on parent involvement. The one half-day a week requirement encourages parent-child interactions and attachments. In an introduction by Kapal et al. (2009), they examine the factors for parental neglect.

"These factors include parental impairments, substance abuse, and history of abuse or neglect as a child; family history of domestic violence; and prior history of reports to child protective services" (Kaplan, Schene, DePanfilis, & Gilmore, 2009, p. 1). For any program to achieve success in decreasing or lowering rates neglect, they have to address the issues that may exist for these types.