CHILD ABANDONMENT

Child Abandonment



Child Abandonment

Introduction

Child abandonment has been practiced throughout human history. In ancient times, it often was a culturally sanctioned means of controlling the population and ensuring survival of the group when resources were scarce (Hickey, 2002). In more recent times, however, the killing of an infant has been considered a heinous act and a crime. Nonetheless, abandonment sometimes has been done surreptitiously, usually by unwed mothers who do not want to raise a child. Even today, children of unwed mothers are at a higher risk of maternal abandonment or murder. Abandonment has been historically referred to as a rational act of survival against unbearable and unforgiving social conditions. It is not considered a mental disorder secondary to pregnancy, childbirth, or the lactation process. Other factors, such as the comorbidity of mental illness, low socioeconomic status, domestic violence, and cultural norms and mores may precipitate abandonment (Chew, 2007).

Abandonment is generally understood in terms of infants and children being discarded by parents. Historically, women living in poverty, giving birth out of wedlock, or raped during wars were likely to dispose of their children (Haapasalo, 2003). After World War II and the disintegration of Yugoslavia, many women walked out on the children they had conceived as a result of rape. Typically, youthful mothers without material or other support have been known to abandon their offspring in shame and desperation, at times in potentially life-threatening locations such as garbage bins, street corners, and public toilets (Bourget, 2000). In the United States, abandonment of a child is a crime for which mothers can be prosecuted. To quell abandoned infant death, 45 U.S. states have passed a safe haven law (also called “Baby Moses” law) that permits parents to leave infants in designated “safe care” without fear of prosecution (Brewster, 2003).

Emotional and Economic Abandonment

Emotional and economic abandonment of children by their fathers is a serious problem internationally and in the United States, where the UN estimated that 10 million single mothers were living with children under the age of 18 in 2000 (Levitzky, 2000). In addition to children, a large number of elderly individuals of both genders are deserted each year in the United States. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, caregivers abandoned approximately 70,000 elderly Americans in 2001, many with serious illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. Long-term caregivers, the majority of whom are female relatives, are often overwhelmed by lack of financial and social assistance, leading to abandonment of their charges (Stroud, 2001).

A number of scholars have noted that during the slavery era, the infants of enslaved African Americans had a higher mortality rate than the rest of the population (Brewster, 2003; Stroud, 2001; Vanamo, 2001). In a study of skeletal remains from enslaved African American populations, researchers found that those populations were nutritionally deficient and labor abused. Nevertheless, experts have conjectured that some deaths of infants or young children in the slave population might have been caused by parents and were part of enslaved women's ...