Corona Virus and Institutionalised Children

News about the Coronavirus, or Covid-19, has been hard to escape for the past couple of months. A lot of people are very worried and various media and industries seem to be whipping up the worry into a panic. It can be hard to keep a level head and to know how to take necessary, sensible precautions, without losing yourself in panic. What can also be hard, is to be aware of what the various groups at greatest risk are. Until you are reminded of it inescapably, as I was while I was in India.

I was in Bangalore when things started to really heat up with regards to Coronavirus in India. Guidelines were passed down for prevention of infection in childcare institutions from both the national and the state government, some of which were useful, some not so much. And between the panic that was being whipped up in the media and the lack of real understanding of what was risky and what was not, I saw a fear develop among the staff working in the institutions where I was for observation and training.

What surprised me was that the overwhelming feeling seemed to be that the staff wanted to protect themselves from the possibility of being infected by the children and the vulnerable adults they were responsible for. There seemed to be little understanding that actually in this case the people living in the institutions were slightly more protected from infection, because they essentially live cut off from the community. If Coronavirus comes into these institutions, it is going to be brought in by staff or visitors, it will not be coming from the children or vulnerable adults.

This thought brought with it the next realisation for me. If (when) Coronavirus arrives in the institutions, the results will be dramatic. The mortality rate will be very, very high.

I have mentioned on many occasions, in blogs, books, training and lectures that institutionalisation causes the weakening of a child’s immune system, and in small babies it can even cause the immune system to shut down completely. This means that if children and vulnerable adults in institutions – anywhere in the world, not just in India – are hit with Coronavirus, they are far more likely than most young, healthy people to develop severe forms of the disease and to die from it.

This realisation made me stop short for a moment. It would be the most horrendous form of deinstitutionalisation. And worst of all, it is very likely to happen.

I was confronted with it again, shortly after I got home, when I was informed that there was a confirmed Corona case in the community near an other institution I have been involved in. I have been giving them a combination of advice on an effective lock down to protect the children, and the urgent request both to the institution and to the local authorities to allow as many children as possible to go back to their families – with support if required – for the duration of the epidemic. Because spread out in the community the survival rate will almost certainly be much better than if they are all clustered together, waiting for the virus to be introduced in their midst.

Because Coronavirus is such a big risk to vulnerable children and because we can easily feel alone and cut off when having to do much of our work in isolation at the moment, the topic ‘Corona Virus’ has been added to the forum on the community page at www.familybasedsolutions.org/community/. Please feel free to register to the forum and share your experiences, challenges and fears with the community of people working in child protection and alternative care around the world. It can help us all feel more connected and less alone.

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