Exploring Government Social Policy Relevant to Melinda's Family

This essay examines the role of government social policy in addressing child abuse, specifically focusing on a case of neglect involving a child named Melinda. It identifies neglect as a form of child abuse, referencing the Western Australian Government's neglect policy and the Children and Community Services Act 2004. The essay details the different types of neglect, including chronic neglect, which is evident in Melinda's family situation. It further discusses the concept of cumulative harm and the challenges child protection agencies face when investigating parental care omissions. The essay concludes that neglect requires equal consideration as other forms of abuse and emphasizes the mandatory intervention when a child experiences harm due to neglect, as is the case with Melinda.

Running head: GOVERNMENT SOCIAL POLICY 1
Government Social Policy
Name
Institutional Affiliation

GOVERNMENT SOCIAL POLICY 2
Government Social Policy
Government policies assist the government in providing services, which ensure the
protection and welfare of the public. For example, between 2016-2017, approximately 160,000
Australian children received protection (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). In this
case, Melinda is undergoing child abuse and the government has a role to play in the intervention
based on the current policies. Therefore, this essay explores the government social policy
relevant to Melinda’s family situation.
To start with, child abuse is in different forms. According to the Western Australian
Government, children are protected from the neglect form of abuse by a neglect policy
(Department of Child Protection, n.d.). Neglect occurs when a parent provides inadequate care to
a child, which impacts negatively on health or development (Department of Justice, 2017).
Therefore, Melinda’s mom is neglecting her when she goes to school hungry, without sanitary
towels and dirty. This abuse has begun to affect Melinda’s social interactions since she has
become more withdrawn. Evidently, Melinda is undergoing child abuse in the form of neglect.
There are different types of neglect. The first type of neglect is not frequent while the
second type occurs as a reaction (Government of Western Australia, n.d.). According to the
article “Understanding Neglect,” the last type (chronic) entails inadequate care given persistently
over an extended period. In Melinda’s family, the chronic type is witnessed because her siblings
stocked and washed their clothes in school before heading home, which reveals that her mother
neglected her siblings too. This neglectful parenting was also practiced on Melinda as earlier
mentioned. Therefore, this proves that the policy’s types of neglect are reflected in Melinda’s
family.

GOVERNMENT SOCIAL POLICY 3
Neglect has various forms. It can be described in the form of cumulative harm, which are
recurring events that affect the child’s sense of wellbeing (Department of justice, 2017).
Evidently, Melinda seems to be okay with the lack of sanitary towels as long as she gets to stay
in school because she does not want to upset her sister and mom. Therefore, she has become
accustomed to the recurrent events of lacking personal hygiene, which make it cumulative harm.
It is worth noting that neglect is challenging to child protection agencies because of the
investigation of omission of parental care (Department of justice, 2017). In Melinda’s family, her
mother may be undergoing financial difficulties because Melinda states that her sister told her
there were no sanitary towels. In such cases, the agencies only intervene when the child is at risk
of experiencing or has experienced harm due to neglect (Department of justice, 2017). Therefore,
it may be difficult for the agency to determine the presence of risk.
In conclusion, neglect is a form of child abuse, which requires equal consideration as
other forms of abuse. Evidently, Melinda and her siblings have undergone child abuse due to
neglectful parenting from their mother. It seems the abuse may be due to lack of financial
resources. However, the neglect policy indicates that intervention is mandatory when the child
experiences harm as in Melinda’s case.

GOVERNMENT SOCIAL POLICY 4
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2018). Child protection Australia 2016–17.
Retrieved 28 March 2018, from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/child-protection/child-
protection-australia-2016-17/contents/table-of-contents-print-report
Department of Communities, Child Protection and Family Support (DCP). (n.d.). Policy on
Neglect. Retrieved from https://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/Resources/Documents/Policies
%20and%20Frameworks/Neglect-PolicyOnNeglect.pdf
Department of Justice. (2017). Children and Community Services Act 2004. Western Australian
Legislation. Retrieved from
https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/prod/filestore.nsf/FileURL/
mrdoc_32219.pdf/$FILE/Children%20and%20Community%20Services%20Act
%202004%20-%20%5B04-g0-00%5D.pdf?OpenElement
Government of Western Australia. (n.d.) Understanding Neglect. Retrieved from
https://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/Resources/Documents/Policies%20and%20Frameworks/
Neglect%20Background%20Paper%20Understanding%20Neglect%202008.pdf