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Structural Neglect in Orphanages: Physical Growth, Cognition, and Daily Life of Young Institutionalized Children in India

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Child Maltreatment in Residential Care

Abstract

In this chapter we present our study in an orphanage in India. We examined physical growth and cognitive development in 37 young children (1–6 years; mean age 35 months) and conducted time use observations in a subsample of 20 toddlers (mean age 25 months). In the time use procedure, spot observations focused on toddlers’ daily life experiences. Each child was observed on 1 day during 5 h, once every 10 min, resulting in 31 observations per child. Our findings show that more than a third to half of the children had severe growth delays (underweight, stunted growth, or microcephaly). Their mean developmental quotient (DQ) was 68, with 61% of the children showing a severe delay in cognitive development (DQ < 70). Follow-up assessments revealed that there was no catch-up in physical and cognitive development after more than a year of institutionalization. The time use observations showed that the toddlers did not interact with caregivers or peers most of the time (80%). Based on our findings and convergent evidence from comparable studies, we conclude that children’s daily life experiences in orphanages should be qualified as structural neglect, resulting in profound developmental delays. Placement in (foster or adoptive) family care is necessary to break the cycle of sustained traumatization and to enable the children to recover from their developmental delays.

(…) the more the social environment in which a human child is reared deviates from the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (which is probably father, mother, and siblings in a social environment comprising grandparents and a limited number of other known families) the greater will be the risk of his developing maladaptive patterns of social behavior.

Bowlby (1982, p. 166).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank children and staff of the children’s home, and the assistance of Eline Baarda, Reshni Balkaran, Lieneke Jooren, Maartje Luijk, Eva Niemeijer, Lindy Noord, Jolien van der Graaff, Sanneke van der Geest, Vera van Leeuwen, and Janneke van Wingerden. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Spinoza, MHvIJ) and the European Research Council (ERC AdG, MJBK), as well as the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grant number 024.001.003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leiden University, Centre for Child & Family Studies, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Femmie Juffer, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn & Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg

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  1. Femmie Juffer
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  2. Marinus H. van IJzendoorn
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  3. Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
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Correspondence to Femmie Juffer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Southwestern Christian University, Bethany, Oklahoma, USA

    Adrian V. Rus

  2. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

    Sheri R. Parris

  3. Social Pediatrics and Obstetrics Research Department, National Institute for Mother and Child Health “Alessandrescu-Rusescu”, Bucuresti, Romania

    Ecaterina Stativa

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Juffer, F., van IJzendoorn, M.H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J. (2017). Structural Neglect in Orphanages: Physical Growth, Cognition, and Daily Life of Young Institutionalized Children in India. In: Rus, A., Parris, S., Stativa, E. (eds) Child Maltreatment in Residential Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57990-0_14

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