Linguistic Neglect in Child Welfare System

Abstract

Child Welfare addresses different kinds of abuse, but linguistic neglect is not one of the abuses. Linguistic neglect harms many Deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and Deafplus children as they lack access to learn language, even ASL, Black American Sign Language, Indigenous Sign Language, ProTactile, and other country sign language. Many parents (high percentage of hearing parents) don't know what to do or how to deal with the consequences like overwhelmed emotions and in addition, they receive misinformation from audiologist and medical, and/or culture/barrier system. The linguistic neglect policy needs to be added into the Child Welfare System because it is considered as linguistic neglect can be abusive and have long-term impacts on Deaf children's overall well-being. Language deprivation in the Deaf community shows increased risk in mental health, attachment style, social skill, cognitive development, and identity.