Educational neglect is a particular form of neglect investigated by Child Protective Services (CPS) in 27 states and Washington, D.C. (a full list of those states can be found at the end of this article). Put simply, it is the failure to provide the minimum adequate educational opportunities for a child. This can include excessive absences from school, not providing necessary materials for school, not providing adequate supervision for homework or refusing reasonable special education services for your child. Educational neglect can have lasting effects on a child’s life, including lower academic achievement, increased drop-out rates, and difficulty finding and keeping a job as an adult.
In all states, children of grade school age are required by law to attend school of some kind. This can be in the form of public school, private school, a religious school or home schooling, but the arrangement needs to be approved by the government and the curriculum must be followed.
When it comes to CPS involvement, educational neglect is usually characterized by excessive unexcused absences from school, school-parent disagreements over special education services or regulatory compliance concerns in homeschooling arrangements. Excused absences, such as documented illness or medical appointment, a death in the family or other catastrophic event are not counted as negligent. According to the Administration for Children & Families (ACF), more than 1 in 5 reports of child abuse or neglect in the United States are made by school staff and according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), in 2015, educational neglect was the third most common form of neglect, accounting for 16.2% of all substantiated cases of child neglect. Regardless, why is educational neglect important to CPS?
Educational neglect is what we call a very sensitive allegation, but not a very specific one. Educational neglect is very common in cases where children are being maltreated and it is often one of the earliest signs in cases of severe child abuse in particular. It is for this reason that historically, reporting of educational neglect has been somewhat aggressive. However, there are also a lot of other reasons why a child might not be attending school consistently or turning in homework assignments regularly. This means there are a lot of unsubstantiated educational neglect reports. It could be that transportation is difficult, that the child has behavioral difficulties or even that the child is mistakenly marked absent when they’re actually not.
Schools have also been known to report educational neglect when there is a disagreement on special education or other support services needed for a child. Sometimes, a school may think a child’s behavioral problems in class may require medication, while a parent disagrees and enrolls the child in psychotherapy instead. This is a murkier area of educational neglect, but these types of reports do occur. In addition, some reports are made maliciously (known as reports made in ‘bad faith’). Reports of child abuse or neglect made in bad faith are illegal in all states, but they are very difficult to prosecute. This is especially true in states that allow child abuse and neglect reports to be made anonymously.
Schools are supposed to make their own diligent efforts to address unexcused absences before reporting to CPS, but may not always do so. There are no consequences for schools or school staff that fail to do this prior to making an educational neglect report to CPS. Therefore, it’s important to ensure you take the right steps to make sure you protect yourself and your family. Make sure you make every effort to provide documentation to the school for excused absences. Make sure your child(ren) do not miss school without good reason and keep in communication with school staff. Keep a record of your communications with the school. If you do move or switch your child to another school, make sure the prior school removes your child(ren) from the school roster. If they make a mistake and don’t remove your child(ren) from the roster, they may continue to mark your child(ren) absent and end up reporting you to CPS for educational neglect. If applicable to you, maintain documentation of all of your child’s special educational needs and services, as well as your efforts to obtain them or not, your reasoning for doing so and alternatives. If you home school your child(ren), make sure you are in compliance with your state’s homeschooling regulations.
Because all reports accepted by CPS require a full investigation, even educational neglect reports are investigated the same way. The investigations are just as intrusive and look at all aspects of safety. If you can take the steps to work with your child(ren)’s school now and ensure they get the education they need, it can be worth the work to avoid the potential trauma of CPS involvement later and be a positive investment in your child(ren)’s future success. Below, you will find a list of all states where CPS investigates educational neglect. If your state is not listed, educational neglect does not fall under the authority of CPS and is likely handled by another government agency directly, such as your state’s department of education. However, this does not mean that schools in states not listed do not make reports to CPS at all; school staff can report concerns other than educational neglect.
Educational neglect is investigated by CPS in the following states:
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.