What is Affluent Neglect?

There is perhaps a common misconception that children and young people who grow up in affluent households do not experience neglect. When we think about the word ‘neglect’, we often associate it with a lack of material resources or wealth; we think about parents and carers who persistently fail to meet their child’s basic physical or psychological needs.

However, neglect can affect anyone, including the wealthiest in society, and the harm caused by so-called ‘affluent neglect’ can be serious and long-lasting for those involved.

What is affluent neglect?

Neglect in its broadest sense can be split into 4 categories: physical, educational, medical, and emotional. While children and young people may have access to nutritious food, high-quality education, and private health care, those who experience affluent neglect lack emotional connection and support from their parents or carers.

So, what does affluent neglect look like? It could be that parents are physically present but emotionally ‘absent’; they may work long hours and rarely be at home; they may give their child material gifts, rather than interacting and playing with them; they might hire domestic staff, such as nannies or au pairs, to take on the main childcare responsibilities; or it could be that they place extremely high expectations on their child to achieve, both personally and academically. Parental substance misuse, domestic abuse and mental ill-health can also be contributory factors in affluent neglect.

Why affluent neglect can be hard to spot

As the signs can be subtle, affluent neglect often goes unnoticed in our settings. We may also harbour certain prejudices or biases around what we think neglect looks like and fall into the trap of stereotyping different types of family.

If we assume there is a correlation between neglect and low socio-economic status, for example, we may not be alert to the indicators of affluent neglect. We may jump to the conclusion that because children come from privileged backgrounds, they are well cared for in every aspect of their lives and have all their needs met. Rather than considering emotional deprivation, we may instead be looking out for young people who show outward, obvious signs of neglect, such as arriving hungry and unkempt into our schools and services.

Of course, from a safeguarding point of view, it’s vital we keep as broad a perspective as possible when it comes to identifying children and young people who are being neglected. And where we notice signs of physical or medical neglect, we should raise the alarm and follow our organisation’s protocols. However, we also need to be aware of children who may be ‘under the radar’ and suffering from a lack of emotional connection.

What does affluent neglect look like?

So, what are the signs we can look out for, to determine whether a child or young person is experiencing affluent neglect?

• • Withdrawing from hobbies and activities

• • Shutting down or self-isolating

• • Regularly experiencing emotional dysregulation

• • Rarely taking part in discussions about home life

• • Engaging in risk behaviours, such as alcohol or drug misuse

• • Struggling to form strong attachments with peers or staff

Of course, signs will look different from person to person, so it’s crucial to take a personalised approach, using what we know about an individual to puzzle-solve and connect the dots. We can look out for behaviour that is a-typical for an individual, to understand what is driving it.