The Lack of Mental Health Professionals and Services for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Children who are deaf or hard of hearing are vulnerable to abuse and are not receiving proper care at an early age due to their parents’ negative reactions towards having a child who has a hearing impairment. The lack of proper care and their vulnerability to abuse puts these children at a high risk of not developing properly. A qualitative study was undertaken using interviews to find services/agencies that provide help to parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in Rhode Island. Findings indicate that there is a sufficient amount of service for parents but these parents are not utilizing the services. Implications for social work practice and policy are to broaden social workers’ knowledge about the Deaf community and have an understanding, if not fluency, in American Sign Language (ALS), as well as mandating parents to attend ASL courses