The criminal law and child neglect: - Action for Children

Avoiding criminalising vulnerable parents and carersIt is the view of the Advisory Group thatwhere there are concerns about child neglectthe vast majority of parents and carers canbe effectively supported to improve theirparenting, and that agencies must alwaysstrive to work in a child’s best interest, whichusually will require strenuous efforts to keepfamilies together.The proposed new offence seeks to protectthe most vulnerable children by capturingextreme cases of child neglect. It is notintended to criminalise vulnerable parentsand carers, including those who do nothave the capacity to change their behaviour.In these cases a social care response isrequired, which can mean removing childrenfrom their homes as a last resort and ifnecessary, so the criminal law would notbe appropriate. It is also important tostate that this proposed offence does notaim to prosecute parents who havedifficulty physically or financially providingfor their children.Under the current offence, the numberof detected criminal cases of neglectalmost trebled between 2001 and 2010 39 ,suggesting that the current offence is opento arbitrary and inconsistent interpretation,which cannot be good children, families oragencies working within child protection.The alternative offence proposed inthis report seeks to create a commonunderstanding by bringing the criminal lawdefinition of neglect in line with the civil law.This will enable professionals to work moreeffectively together to protect vulnerablechildren, and will remove barriers to takingeffective action. It is not intended to lowerthe threshold so that many more parentsbecome the subject of criminal proceedings.Whilst definitions will be aligned, it is rightthat the more stringent standard of proof forcriminal justice prosecutions remains.39Ministry of Justice, Criminal Justice Statistics :Quarterly Update to December 2010 (London, Ministry of Justice, 2011),Tables A4.4 and A4.5.18.