Children and Hoarding: Hidden Harm, Lasting Impact

This resource looks at the rarely discussed experiences of children who live with a parent or carer who hoards, as well as the children and adolescents who show hoarding behaviours themselves. 

Description

What happens when hoarding exists behind closed doors – and a child is growing up in the midst of it? What might we be missing?

This webinar looks at the rarely discussed experiences of children who live with a parent or carer who hoards, as well as the children and adolescents who show hoarding behaviours themselves. Though research remains limited, growing awareness suggests these situations are far more common than they appear – often hidden due to shame, stigma, or fear of professional intervention.

We’ll explore how hoarding can be a response to trauma or unmet emotional needs, and how its impact on children can be profound: isolation from peers, emotional neglect, living in unsafe or unsanitary conditions – and all too often, silence about what’s happening at home.

Through a series of thoughtful conversations, this webinar will help you identify what hoarding can look like in a child’s life, including subtle signs that may go unnoticed. We’ll ask: What should we do when we’re concerned? And how can we respond in ways that are informed, compassionate and sensitive?

If you work with children, this webinar is for you. Expect to leave with greater empathy for children whose lives are impacting by hoarding and the confidence to spot early signs, ask the right questions, and support children and families with sensitivity and skill in this complex, hidden area of practice.

These resources will help you:

• Understand the issues and challenges facing young people who live in households with hoarding
• Appreciate the impact hoarding behaviours can have on other members in the household, and why this is important when working with people who hoard
• Learn more about intergenerational risks posed by hoarding, and appreciate the need for a whole family approach
• Understand the need for a common approach between services, including social work, social care, mental health, children’s services and education
• Enhance your understanding for the need for trauma-informed practice when working with people who hoard, and in particular young people who have started to display hoarding behaviours
• Understand and identify the reasons why young people might display hoarding behaviours, and appreciate the different responses to these signs
• Understand the challenges facing minoritised communities, and reflect on how the language used to talk about hoarding can add to the experience of shame and isolation
• Appreciate how your responses to hoarding, and the parent or carer, can impact on the children in those homes

Further reading