Child neglect and social isolation

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 6 July 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: Indigenous women, Australian women, social isolation, resilience, social inclusion, gambling, parenting

Social isolation has been identified as the cause of quite a few problems, not the least of which are problems faced by women. Some research undertaken by WIRE in 2007 linked women's social isolation and problem gambling. I thought of this research when I was reading Jenny Macklin's statement on the 'Wellbeing of Australia's Children' in which she paints a pretty dismal picture of how well we are looking after Australia's children.

After telling us that the number of children suffering child abuse and neglect in Australia is unacceptably high, and that if you think that is bad, it is even worse for Indigenous Australian children, Macklin goes on to say that 'The best interests of children are a national priority - from the day they are born. If children are to have the best start in life, they need the time and space to bond with their primary care giver. This is absolutely vital for the emotional, cognitive and physical development that is the foundation of lifelong resilience.'

The focus is on the children, which is headline grabbing, but surely commonsense tells us that analysis of the family, and mainly of mothers, must be made if we are to fix this situation.

Raising kids to be physically and emotionally healthy can be a pretty daunting task these days, and the evidence is in that resilience is important. Resilient kids need caring relationships, positive and high expectations from their families, and opportunities for meaningful participation.

Why are we surprised that Aboriginal children are more at risk? The resilience of those communities and families must have been devastated when our ancestors destroyed their family structures. To make it worse, many of our Indigenous communities are completely socially isolated, with the women in those communities even more isolated than the men.

It's a bit difficult to be a model parent when your own problems and the adversity you face are unmanageable.

But it's not only Indigenous women who have few opportunities for meaningful participation.

Back to where this started, gambling. Apparently the design of gaming venues is particularly inviting to socially isolated women, where they can interact with friendly staff and no one interferes with them or sexually harasses them. It is a safe environment to 'spend time alone'.

Interestingly, one study in the WIRE document found that women were not 'driven' to gambling by loneliness, but if gambling becomes a problem, they become lonely because they feel alienated. Other studies found that loneliness came before gambling, which was described by the women interviewed as a secret activity that they were ashamed of.

Resilient families need parents who can provide their children with unconditional love, rules that don't belittle or harm them, and who can model positive behaviour.

It's a bit hard to provide unconditional love for your kids when you're socially isolated.

Perhaps it is in the best interests of children to make it a nationally priority to help socially isolated parents, whatever the causes of their isolation.