The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain

Extensive biological and developmental research over the past 30 years has generated substantial evidence that young children who experience severe neglect—defined broadly as the ongoing disruption or significant absence of caregiver responsiveness—bear the burdens of a range of adverse consequences. Indeed, deprivation or neglect can cause more harm to a young child’s development than overt physical abuse, including subsequent cognitive delays, impairments in executive functioning, and disruptions of the body’s stress response disruptions of the body’s stress response.