Affluent Neglect

‘Rich kids don't have real issues’ is what a colleague once said to me when I was working in the state sector. At the time I was inclined to agree. That view soon changed once I begun working in independent education. The ‘issues’ are often different – a product of different environmental factors – but they exist.

I can’t imagine that anybody working in education would argue against the importance of safeguarding. A significant element associated with safeguarding is, of course, training. People working in schools need to know and understand the different types of abuse that exist (as defined by UK legislation – KCSIE) and I am sure that if you pause for a moment, you’ll recollect the four categories of abuse (pause – think about it). One of these categories though, contain a sub-category that is often forgotten or not considered – or even perceived as a non-issue. Affluent neglect.

There is no universal definition of affluent neglect (yet). What, then, is neglect? The law in the UK (KCSIE) defines neglect as the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Most of us would associate this type of abuse with young people from a disadvantaged background because we’re talking about basic needs, which are easily provided with sufficient finance. What is often overlooked is the ‘psychological’ needs - the emotional support - that is needed for a child to grow up with confidence and security. Emotional neglect may take the form of emotional disconnect, exposure to domestic abuse, unrealistic expectations and resulting pressure, the list goes on.

The insecure young person who’s parents are never around because of their commercial success. The stressed and anxious teenager, under tremendous pressure to ‘succeed’. The angry child, who exhibits behavioral issues – acting out because of domestic abuse at home where one parent exerts control over the other because they are the breadwinner/ wealth holder.

Needless to say, it is often more difficult to identify affluent neglect. Even when we have a concern about a young person, it can be difficult to trace the cause and ascertain that the issue is a result of affluent neglect. This is because of the lack of (physical) evidence and more broadly because establishing cause and effect is challenging.

Perhaps an even bigger challenge is engaging with parents that have been identified as potential affluent neglectors. The realisation that you have neglected your child as someone with the physical resources to give them everything can be a bitter pill to swallow. Arguably a great deal more difficult than an impoverished parent accepting they’ve neglected their child.

The first important step is simply awareness. By reading this article you're going to be more aware of what affluent neglect is and therefore more attuned to its existence. By understanding that it exists and that young people from affluent backgrounds are likely to present welfare concerns as a result helps educators to understand the challenges that the young people in front of them may be experiencing. This has implications on how we manage behaviour and makes us more vigilant so that we do the classic safeguarding essential and pass concerns on to the right person – the Designated Safeguarding Lead, pastoral staff or other.

As leaders, how do we address these concerns if they are suspected as being a result of affluent neglect? This is where it gets really tricky. There are essentially two steps:

1. What can be done to help the young person. This is the most important step. What is the welfare issue? For example, stress, anxiety, etc. How can the young person be supported so as to manage the issue in hand? The level of support will depend on the issue(s) and the severity.
2. Engage the parents. Let’s assume that we are not talking about a case that is significant enough to meet the threshold for referral to an external agency and therefore will be managed by the school. Parents should be kept in the loop and therefore we must report to parents what the school is concerned about and what is being done to address it (there are exceptions to this – particularly for older students). Is there any value in telling a parent that affluent neglect is suspected as a root cause? Almost certainly not. Definitely not in such direct term. It’s best to identify what we need from them as parents to support the issue in hand. They may conclude of their own volition that what is being asked of them is something they haven’t provided enough of in the past – or not – but does it matter? What matters is getting them on side to help now, which they are more likely to do if they understand how they can support their child moving forward. Highlighting a parent's perceived shortcomings is unlikely to elicit a positive response and will most likely create hostility. Whatever we may think of the parents, it’s not in the interest of the student to risk upsetting them as they may choose then not to work with the school.

Perhaps one day the student themselves will find a way to address the matter with their parent(s) in a constructive way.

If you are a school leader, make sure that staff are trained in this area. This doesn’t require a huge amount. It could be a few slides as part of a staff pastoral meeting where affluent neglect is defined, explored and discussed, simply to raise awareness so that staff know what to look for – and are reminded of how to pass concerns on to the relevant people.

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