Clients, who have been brought to the attention of Social Services or other professionals due to abuse and/or neglect of a child, may be resistive to treatment. The family may resent the interference of an outside agency in their family. The family may not see their parenting as wrong or inappropriate. The negative patterns of behavior established in the family keeps the family together. Treatment may force the parents to break the dependency on each other and result in increased isolation (Crosson-Tower, 2002).

Abusive and neglectful parents also are afraid of being labeled and in need of services (Crosson-Tower, 2002). For example, a parent may not initiate psychiatric or psychological treatment because of being labeled "crazy" for seeing a "shrink." Dysfunctional family patterns may have been generational and the parents view of their actions and disciplines for raising their children as their own business. Crosson-Tower, (2002) cite "neglect seems to permeate the lives and generational histories of the families involved and is difficult to combat" (p. 306). For example, The Roger's family, the three children were placed in foster care due to extreme neglect and abandonment

Greenwalt, B.K., Sklare, G., & Portes, P. (1997). The therapeutic treatment provided in cases involving physical child abuse: A description of current practices. Child Abuse & Neglect 22(1), 71-78.

Neglect is an act of omission, whereas, physical abuse is an aggressive act upon a victim (Crosson-Tower, 2002). Treatment of neglectful parents includes addressing the acts that are not being completed or initiated to provide for the child's needs. Crosson-Tower, (2002) cite Polansky, Hally, and Polansky in their working definition of neglect

Treatment Goals for the Neglectful Family

Task 1) Mom will call her sister to make arrangements to watch her children (even though she has to drive 20 minutes) each time she is out searching for a job.

Task 4) Mom will call the Worker for direction and assistance when needed.

Task 1) Mom will include the application for food stamps and a medical card three working days.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1351
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)