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Child Abandonment

Child abandonment occurs when a parent or guardian, in an extralegal manner, ceases to provide care for their child, with the intent of permanently terminating their guardianship over them. People desert their children for a wide range of reasons. An abandoned child is referred to as a foundling (as opposed to a runaway or an orphan). Baby dumping refers to parents leaving a child younger than 12 months in a public or private place with the intent of terminating their care for the child. It is also known as rehoming, in cases where adoptive parents use illegal means, such as the internet, to find a new home for their child.

Causes

• Poverty and homelessness are often root cause of child abandonment. People living in countries with poor social welfare systems and who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon their children because of a lack of resources. In some cases the parents already have a child or children, but are unable to take care of another child at that time.

• In societies where women are looked down upon for being teenage and/or single mothers, child abandonment is more common.
• Children born out of the confines of marriage may be abandoned in a family's attempt to prevent being shamed by their community.

• Physical disability, mental illness, and substance abuse problems that parents are facing can also cause them to abandon their children.

• Children who are born with congenital disorders or other health complications may be abandoned if their parents feel unequipped to provide them with the level of care that their condition requires.

• In cultures where the sex of the child is of utmost importance, parents are more likely to abandon a baby of the undesired sex. Similarly, people may choose to pursue the, often controversial, option of sex-selective abortion.

• Political conditions, such as war and displacement of a family, are also cause for parents to abandon their children.
• Additionally, a parent being incarcerated or deported can result in the involuntary abandonment of a child, even if the parent(s) did not voluntarily relinquish their parental role.
• Disownment of a child is a form of abandonment which entails ending contact with, and support for, one's dependent. Disownment tends to occur later in a child's life, generally due to a conflict between the parent(s) and the child, but can also occur when children are still young. Reasons include: divorce of parents, discovering the true paternity of a child, and a child's actions bringing shame to a family; most commonly, breaking the law, teenage pregnancy, major ideological differences, and identifying as LGBTQ+.

Effects on Survivors

• Possibility of experiencing abuse and neglect in institutionalized care
• Low self-esteem stemming from feelings of guilt about being at fault for being abandoned
• Separation anxiety: feelings of anxiety about being separated from parents or caregivers
• Attachment issues: difficulty becoming emotionally attached to and trusting other people, especially caregivers
• Abandonment issues, characteristic of Abandoned Child Syndrome, including:
  • social alienation, guilt, anxiety, clinginess, insomnia and/or nightmares, eating disorders, anger issues, depression, substance abuse, and traumatic reenactment through romantic relationships
• Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Abandonment
• Depending upon the severity of their symptoms, children who have developed certain maladjusted tendencies in social interaction may be diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder or Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder
• For children who are abandoned in dangerous places, such as dumpsters, doorsteps, and other public areas, exposure to the elements and physical injury are distinct possibilities.

Societal Cost

• In 2015, it cost the United States' government over $9 billion to support 427,910 children who were in foster care.

Child Abandonment Laws

• Child abandonment is illegal in the United States, but some states consider it to be a felony offense, while others categorize it as a misdemeanor, so punishments range from a $2,000 fine to up to 5 years in prison and a $125,000 penalty.

Safe Haven Laws

• Safe-Haven laws, or "Baby Moses Laws," allow parents to leave their newborn baby in locations designated as safe, such as hospitals, police stations, and staffed fire stations and churches, without any criminal culpability.
• When a child is abandoned under a safe-haven law, the parents' rights to custody are terminated.
• All U.S. states have safe-haven laws, but the age children must be abandoned by ranges from 3 to 60 days, depending on the state's policy.

Prevention

• Providing access to sex education and to family planning resources, like contraception, and abortion can help prevent people who cannot take care of, or do not want want to raise, children from becoming pregnant in the first place.
• Evidence has shown that, when bans on abortion are lifted, the number of abandoned, abused, and neglected children decreases in response. However, access is an issue. In the United States, 87% of all counties, and 97% of all rural counties, do not have any access to abortion services.
• Governmental assistance can be provided in the form of parental counseling, post-natal services, mental health services, and other community support services for parents who are at a higher risk of abandoning their children because of age, support, physical ability, mental illness, and/or poverty.