Child Protection Issues Foreseen

In the email I posted in the previous blog (HERE), which in turn was forwarded to other organisations, a strong increase in children ending up in institutions due to the pandemic was mentioned. I would like to explain further why this fear exists, and I will also like to share with you some of the issues that came up during conversations I have had with people involved in child protection and alternative care in various countries, as a result of sending the email.

With regards to children becoming more at risk of ending up in institutions in many countries, as a result of the pandemic, the email itself already touched on the fact that parents or other caregivers may lose their lives due to Covid-19 or due to the circumstances created by its threat. It also mentions that the global economic recession, which is almost certain to follow the pandemic by the looks fo things, will greatly increase the number of families living in poverty and further worsen the situation for families already living in poverty.

However, just losing a caregiver or facing poverty in themselves are not enough for people to decide to give up their children. It is when this challenging situation is combined with the perception that children will be better off in an institution, that the likelihood of them being handed over increases. Plus, as someone working in Eastern Europe told me, in his country many families are not aware of the existence of child welfare services, and those services expect people to come to them, rather than going out to identify vulnerable families. The only support the families are aware of is the possibility of institutionalising the child. This is why awareness-raising is so important and why it should happen now before families start to think about their options. By that time, they should be aware of all options and support open to them.

There are situations where the children have not been thrown out of the institution they live in, but where the adults, who were running the place to rake in the donations and who saw this money dry up, have simply left. Leaving the children to take care of themselves and each other. Without care from adult caregivers and without money or other means of getting more food once what was there runs out. In places where this has not yet happened, it may still happen later, where people running an ‘orphanage’ for profit were willing to wait out the pandemic itself, but then find that due to the recession, funds are not returning.

In institutions where caregivers do continue to be present, in various places they are required to come live in the institution, to protect the children from the risks of people going back and forth between the institution and the community and thereby possibly bringing in the virus. Medically, this is a good decision, providing protection to the children. However, I have been made aware of numerous places where, in practice, this means a skeleton caregiving staff is living on-site and required to provide 24/7 care to the children. This in itself is a very heavy burden that leads to exhaustion, and it is combined with stress about the uncertainty of what is going to happen, and an inability to spend time with family members and check that they are alright. Altogether this leads to very much stress, which in turn is likely to make someone snap at some point and puts the children at even higher risk of abuse than usual.

Similarly, families in the community, living under lockdown, with fewer (or no) possibilities for earning money and with a lot of uncertainty about the future are under enormous pressure. Families who were never in need of any kind of support before, may start to buckle under this pressure, and just like in institutions, this may mean that children are at higher risk of abuse. This is something that needs to be understood and that requires a non-standard approach when these cases are reported. Yes, children need to be protected and families need to receive support. However, it is not reasonable to label the family ‘an abusive family’ when acts of abuse took place during a period of extraordinary pressure and stress, and only then. There is a need for a thorough assessment of the situation and of what was underlying the abuse, before decisions are made on the immediate separation of the children from their family. So that they receive appropriate support and not automatic removal of the children.

There are many other issues, but these are some of the big ones that I have been made aware of. It is important to take these things into account and to get ready to deal with them in an effective way.

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