Neglect: Opportunities for collaboration between health and welfare: The Strengthening Families Program at the Royal Children's Hospital

Abstract

Persistent neglect is thought to be just as harmful to a child as abuse. However, neglect is often difficult to assess for two reasons: firstly it often resembles poverty; and secondly, neglecting families tend to have disorganised patterns of accessing health care and social support. This article looks at the importance of joint health and welfare input in interventions with families at risk of neglecting their children. The Strengthening Families Program at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital provides a model for interdisciplinary and intersectoral (welfare and health) collaboration, which offers care management to individual families and is working towards systemic changes in the hospital's response to these families.