When it come to hygiene there’s a term used by CPS workers called “marginal care”, under which things like messy hair, too-short pants, or even, perhaps, not bathing for a week, would fall.
So as long as it’s deemed to be “marginal care”, then it’s not neglect, which makes sense.
As for the not bathing, that might also depend on whether or not they were periodically sponging off or not, as at some point if you’re not cleaning certain areas, then indeed no bathing at all is neglect.
But the family in this article got reported for messy hair and too short pants.
My daughter had seizures when she was 10. The first anti-seizure medication she was on gave her rages and made her very sensitive to lots of things. At the time, she had very long hair, and it was near impossible to brush it. She looked wild for about two months. Plus the rages really made her seem wild.
She finally let me take her to the hairdresser and get a cute short hair cut.
She changed meds, and I don’t know if the haircut was before or after the med change.
What’s funny is to this day, she keeps her hair short. At least, she recognizes it and takes herself to the hairdresser.
Funny to think back on those days because she is so sweet and kind now.