Overview

Abandonment generally refers to a person (or persons) permanently leaving another (or others). That generality, however, masks many complexities and nuances, as abandonment can have different meanings and effects. In the context of adolescence, the effects of abandonment can emerge in a variety of ways depending on the nature of abandonment and the outcomes of interest. For example, one must consider the differences between emotional and physical abandonment, as well as whether the adolescent is the one being abandoned. Adolescents can be abandoned by their parents, leave their parents by running away, or abandon their own child. Each situation creates a unique set of circumstances and is accompanied by its own complex laws. With a lack of adequate statistics or research, it can be difficult to pinpoint the severity of the impact each of these situations can have on an adolescent’s development. Nevertheless, an impact of some degree is evident.

Abandonment

Although children who are abandoned tend to be infants or young children (who are called foundlings), abandonment still is important to consider when studying the period of adolescence. Abandonment potentially relates to adolescents in two major ways. First, abandonment is relevant to adolescents in that they can be abandoned or in that the feeling of being abandoned leads youth to leave their parents by, for example, running away from their homes (i.e., the abandon their parents) (Thompson et al. 2008). Second, abandonment is relevant to adolescents because they may be at risk for abandoning their own children. It also is expected that the variety of ways that adolescents can experience abandonment lead to different developmental outcomes.

The above propositions may be true but, regrettably, research on abandonment is considerably inadequate and does not support them conclusively. For example, researchers and policy makers lack reliable statistics regarding how many children are abandoned, their basic characteristics and situations, as well as the characteristics of those who abandon them. Even the most comprehensive federal statistics reporting on the incidence and common features of child maltreatment do not report abandonment rates or characteristics (US Department of Health and Human Services 2009). Thus, studies do not have a firm grip on the number of cases involving abandonment, but they do provide a sense that it is an important issue that may affect adolescents.

The Social and Legal Complexities of Abandonment

Abandonment turns out to be a much more complicated legal and social concept than might be initially imagined. Legally, children are abandoned when their parents leave them without the supervision of an appropriate person for what is deemed to be an inappropriate amount of time. Typically, the parents do not intend to return and relinquish their control over the child’s care, and the child is abandoned outside of legal adoption.

As with other types of child maltreatment, abandonment is regulated by both civil and criminal law. Child abandonment is a criminal offense in every state, but what constitutes abandonment varies from one state to another. Variations focus on what the parents do, the child’s characteristics, and the penalties. Much variation exists in the civil context as well. Variation in this context also focuses not only on what parents do as well as on the child’s characteristics and situations but also on the rights of parents involved and the types of resources that might be provided to the parents and families. In the civil context, abandonment also arises when a court decides to terminate the natural rights of parents on the grounds of abandonment in order to permit adoption or other state interventions on behalf of the child. Importantly, pursuing abandonment in criminal or civil contexts has consequences, especially in terms of protections individuals would have and what would be appropriate outcomes for the parents as well as the children: criminal justice systems would aim to prosecute and punish parents in ways that might remove them from their homes while civil, child welfare systems would aim to consider, in appropriate cases, the potential rehabilitation of parents as well as reunification with their families.

The law remains equally complicated when dealing with abandonment from the perspective of adolescents who might be the ones to abandon their own children. Adolescents who have children may be at higher risk of abandoning their infants, and this supposition has led to important legal developments relating directly to the legal regulation of abandonment. Although adolescents may be deemed at higher risk, research has yet to provide supporting evidence to that effect. It has been adolescent (and other young) mothers, however, who have tended to attract attention from society and policy makers. That attention recently contributed to the development of “Safe-Haven Laws.” Every state now has laws permitting parents to abandon their children at a safe place, such as with fire station departments, emergency medical personnel, hospitals, police departments, and, in some cases, churches (Pollock and Hittle 2003). Although these laws have been described as permitting parents to abandon their children anonymously and without fear of prosecution, that description may not be the case depending on state laws. Again and as with all other areas of child welfare and criminal law, laws can be quite complicated and can vary from state to state.

State laws vary considerably in their approaches to regulating safe havens for children who would be abandoned. They vary in the manner that they restrict the age of babies who can be legally relinquished, vary in terms of who they allow to relinquish the children, and vary to the extent that they assure anonymity. Equally importantly, they vary in the specific protection granted to those who seek to relinquish, for example, if a child has been abused; the case is likely to be treated as an abandonment rather than relinquishment, and the relinquisher can be prosecuted for their abusive actions. States also vary in terms of who can accept the baby and the protections that they would get from liability. In addition, states vary in terms of the rights of the relinquishing parent (e.g., whether they can change their minds) as well as the rights of the children (e.g., whether their medical history can be taken by the relinquisher). The rights of fathers also vary, with some states requiring a search for the natural father. Although it may be a general rule that safe-haven laws permit abandonment without fear or prosecution, then, what is permitted certainly varies and that variation highlights well some of the important considerations that can arise in cases of abandonment.

In addition to their remarkable variation, safe-haven laws are notable for the extent to which they have attracted considerable controversy as well as their relative ineffectiveness (Sanger 2006). Although they have helped assuage fears of children being killed or otherwise harmed by parents who no longer wanted them, available evidence has yet to support their effectiveness (see Pollock and Hittle 2003). The legal responses also have been seen as problematic in that they do not seek to identify and serve the young women who feel isolated and lack access to resources and support in times of crisis leading to abandonment. This lack of a broader perspective makes this area important to the study of adolescence as it necessarily involves the need to address broader issues relating to adolescent sexuality and pregnancy; enhance communication among youth, families, and communities; and develop supportive networks for adolescents in need. These broader issues go to the core of the study of adolescence as well as the core of efforts that can eventually address abandonment and its consequences.

Parents’ Abandonment of Adolescents

Another form of abandonment can involve the death of parents. The nature of a parent’s death could cause even further complexities such that the child may cope differently depending on whether the death was sudden (such as by an accident or suicide) or due to prolonged illnesses. However, regardless of how a parent dies, it seems to severely affect a child’s development.

While it may seem inappropriate to consider a parental death as abandonment, one must consider the situational similarities. For example, a child is in either case abandoned because in either case they are left without a parent. However, like traditional abandonment cases, there is a lack of research on the effects of adolescents losing their parents. But some research has found that parental loss of any type – parental rejection, separation from a parent, or loss through death – causes a disturbance in psychological development. This disturbance may extend well into adulthood and cause, for example, children to be less confident in their own parenting abilities, which may cause a cycle of abandonment as well (Keenan 2014).

Although the different forms of abandonment may be similar, it seems that bereavement during adolescence may still have its own unique consequences. For example, researchers have found that, compared to peers from divorced or intact homes, parentally bereaved adolescents expressed higher levels of discomfort, inferiority, and inadequacy (Servaty and Hayslip 2001). It seems that adolescent grieving may be very unique and very likely to interfere with the normal developmental processes (Garber 2000), but when adolescents have experienced their losses matters (Cerniglia et al. 2014). And, like any other aspect of this developmental period, the period may be one of heightened importance of peers in responding to parental loss (see Dopp and Cain 2012; LaFreniere and Cain 2015).

Conclusion

Abandonment, while potentially manifested in many forms either by the adolescent’s parents or by the adolescent parent, seems to have severe consequences on adolescents’ development into adulthood. Unfortunately, there is a lack of adequate data and research on this topic. Still, even without robust data, it can be clear that, due to the period of adolescence being ordinarily fraught with many potential internal and external struggles while transitioning into adulthood, adding the extreme stressor of parental loss likely shapes development in many ways.

Cross-References