Clumsy children labelled as neglected

PARENTS of clumsy children are risking neglect charges if they show up too many times at a hospital emergency ward.

PARENTS of clumsy children are risking neglect charges if they show up too many times at a hospital emergency ward.

A new report from the Federal Government's Australian Institute of Family Studies advises child protection workers to classify children who repeatedly hurt themselves as "high risk of neglect''  even if the injuries are minor. Accident-prone children might be the victims of poor parental supervision, it says.

"In an assessment of child maltreatment, child protection practitioners should consider children with multiple accidental injuries to be at high risk of neglect, particularly supervisory neglect, and not be too quick to classify a child as `accident prone' without carefully considering the role of supervision in those injuries,'' the report states.

"Children who suffer a number of injuries, albeit minor in terms of severity, may serve as a warning that there are other issues of a potentially neglectful nature.''

Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg yesterday warned such a crackdown would promote over-protective ``helicopter parenting''.

"This may act as a disincentive for parents whose kids have legitimately hurt themselves to present to the emergency ward,''Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"Kids aren't made of glass ...  if you took this seriously you'd never put a child on a bike because they might go on the road and get killed by a semi-trailer.''

Australian Institute of Family Studies deputy director Daryl Higgins said it was a criminal offence throughout Australia for children to be harmed, "whether it's because of an overt action or a failure to provide adequate supervision''.

"A child may be very hyperactive, or may have a physical or mental disability, and in these situations the child has personal characteristics that require greater supervision,'' he said yesterday.

Australian Psychological Society official Simon Kinsella said doctors were treating a growing number of children who hurt themselves when their parents were too drunk or drugged to look after them.

He cited the case of a five-year-old boy who burnt himself trying to cook dinner, when his parents passed out for five hours after a hit of heroin.

The parents took the boy to a Melbourne hospital for treatment, but "lied'' about how he had hurt himself.

"Very often some of the parents aren't paying attention because they are stoned or keeping the children unsupervised while they work the night shift, and then they'll lie about it,'' he said.

Dr Kinsella said parents should not be prosecuted over genuine accidents.

"If you've got a child who's a bit daydreamy you can't follow that child around; they're going to hurt themselves,'' he said.`In some ways if they bump themselves it will sharpen their attention and be better for them in the long term.''

Public Services Association organiser Brendan McMenamin said child protection officers across the country were "absolutely overwhelmed'' by child abuse reports, yet could investigate only about one in 10 cases.

Have you ever been quizzed about your child's accidental injuries? Have your say below

NSW Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell  said parents were under "a lot of pressure'' to supervise children.

"I don't think we can expect parents to be super-parents but they need to know what their child is doing as best they can,'' she said yesterday.

Ms Mitchell said there were no clear-cut rules about when to prosecute the parents of accidentally-injured children.

"You'd have to look at each individual circumstance and determine if there was a significant failure of care to the child,'' she said.

"I would hope that (prosecuting parents) would be reasonably rare and that people in authority would establish a relationship with the families and then make a good judgment about whether there is a real problem or not.''

Dr Kinsella said "severe neglect'' was getting worse, especially in the poorer suburbs of capital cities.

"We (psychologists) are seeing more parents who do take drugs,'' he said.

The "high risk of neglect'' recommendation seems unrealistic to Sunshine Coast mother Sam David, whose 15-month-old son Boston has just learnt to walk.

"He started walking at 13 months and he  walks into everything,'' Ms David said. "He's always got bruises on his head, on his legs and all over him.''

Ms Davis, who is pregnant with twins, said she understood there were circumstances where injuries should be reported.

"They're at the doctor fairly constantly because they pick up bugs ... so I guess it can be monitored by a GP.''

with Kristen Shorten