Impact on Child Care and School Closures
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Care for Essential Workers: Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order approving child care aid for essential workers on Saturday, reports by LAist. While state funded child care is normally reserved for low-income families, under Newsom’s new order, state agencies now have the power to waive certain regulations to make funding available for workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, reports CALMatters. Children at risk for abuse or in foster care will still be given priority placement, however. Additionally, the new order also allows after-school programs to operate at regular school hours, in schools and other locations, to care for school aged children of essential workers, as reported by EdSource. It also allows child care programs to use a new provision of the federal Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed children in their care. The California Department of Education is expected to issue updated guidelines on how to offer child care safely during the pandemic sometime next week.The Los Angeles County Early Childhood Education COVID-19 Response Team, of which First 5 LA is a member, released a statement today, about how the County will be responding to the need. Additionally, there will be a Community Call tomorrow, April 10, at 9 a.m. to detail the response.
The Fate of Childcare: The United States’ already-fragile child care system may be about to shatter without the necessary relief funds in place to absorb the economic impact of the pandemic, reports early childhood reported Lillian Mongeau for the The Hechinger Report. The latest federal relief package –– the CARES Act –– provides $3.5 billion for the government subsidy programs aimed at providers who serve low-income families and another $750 million for Head Start, the federal program for families. There is also $350 million slated for forgivable small business loans that most child care centers would be eligible for, but advocates say that this funding still isn’t enough to ensure that they can stay afloat through the duration of the pandemic. Even before COVID-19, the majority of child care centers were already struggling with state reimbursements that are often less than costs incurred for many providers. As a follow-up, reporter Jackie Mader follows the struggle of family day care Katie's Place, for The Hechinger Report, finding that with more parents keeping their children at home, day care centers are also not receiving state subsidies which are based on attendance. This may result in the permanent closures of many centers which will have a permanent impact on the long term economy.
Related article: San Francisco Chronicle: A working parent’s shelter-in-place quandary: Keep paying for childcare you can’t use?
Providers are Essential Workers: Child care centers are keeping communities afloat by providing essential services to workers on the frontlines of the pandemic –– but their work is often overlooked, according to a commentary by Susan Dumars, President of Continuing Development Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates more than 160 child-care centers throughout California, in EdSource. The pandemic is highlighting that despite the fact that child care workers are essential to keeping communities operating, many are still without the financial support and policies that keep child care workers safe such as paid sick leave, reports Vox. As parents struggle to decide whether or not to send their children to day care, an article in The New York Times is encouraging parents to continue paying their day care centers if they have the means. Other advocates are hoping that the next relief package includes an upward of $100 billion for day care centers that would also help provide higher pay for the day care workers whose jobs have become even riskier. Preventing the day care system from collapsing altogether is essential for ensuring that the economy can return to normal once the pandemic is over, and one day care worker shares in an op-ed for The Washington Post: “The early-education workforce now shares the term of first responders. Don’t let us be forgotten in decisions made on health and financial issues."
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Impact on Parents, At Home Learning and Resources for Families
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Parent Stress Part I: As the COVID-19 pandemic and Stay-at-Home orders continue, more and more parents are reporting higher levels of closeness with their children but also higher levels of stress, says Forbes. “The load is very heavy. I feel the stress always,” said one single parent of three children ages 4, 5 and 7 for a piece for The New York Times. She described the rising costs of groceries and the three different school set ups she must organize. In her piece for The Hechinger Report, "Desperate parents need help as coronavirus upends our lives," reporter and parent of two young children Sarah Garland pleads, “we’re all exhausted, some of us are going hungry, and more and more of us are getting sick.” Describing her response to the new stress, advocate and writer Chloe Cooney, penned her reflections on Medium: “Forget homeschooling success — most of us are struggling to get our kids to do the basics that would have accounted for a Saturday-morning routine before this pandemic.”
Parent Stress Part II: Some outlets published reassuring responses to desperate parents’ calls -- Mary Katharine Ham writes for The Atlantic that “It’s Okay to Be a Different Kind of Parent During the Pandemic.” Ham reflects on how she coped with being 7 months pregnant with a 2-year-old and losing her husband in a bicycle accident, and how the drastic life change we’re all experiencing is somewhat similar. Jessica Grose assures parents that finding time to cry counts as self-care for her piece in The New York Times, and Rebecca Parlakian, the Senior Director of Programs at ZERO TO THREE, says to parents that, “you are enough,” in her blog post for PBS Parents. Author and parent Kimberly Harrington also shared with PBS NewsHour her experience working from home with two toddlers before the pandemic, stating, “I think it's really important to realize you can't instantly be school.” Finally, “Ask a Manager’s” workplace expert Alison Green explains what’s reasonable for managers to expect of parents working from home. “It’s not reasonable to expect someone caring for a toddler because schools and daycares are closed to work the same schedule she worked in the office without a toddler around! How would that happen? There’s a toddler there!” exclaims Green.
Related articles:
Books Galore: With many children now stuck inside, celebrities are helping give parents a reprieve by posting videos of themselves reading children’s books. Famed actor and Reading Rainbow host Lavar Burton announced last week he’d be kicking of a streaming reading series, with Monday’s at 9 a.m. Pacific Time reserved for children’s stories, reports Variety. Dolly Parton, Sir Patrick Stewart, and reading duo Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams are also reading to kids over the web, reports LAist. For parent-read storytime, The New York Times has developed a curated list of books that could help children process the current “Stay-at-Home” order. “Maybe it’s time for a book about people they can relate to — kids their own age who have been cooped up and forced to get creative,” says Times author Elisabeth Egan.
Related article: Brookings: Playful learning in everyday places during the COVID-19 crisis—and beyond
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Talking to Kids and Family Mental Health
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Increased Child Abuse Part I: Child welfare experts continue to express concern that child abuse cases could increase because of the increased stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Stay-at-Home orders, reports PBS Newshour. Reports of domestic violence, which is considered a risk factor for child abuse, have “soared around the world, underscoring how unsafe homes can be during a pandemic.” Child Abuse pediatrician Dr. Nina Agrawal penned an op-ed for The New York Times, explaining why we should all be worried for at risk kids, and that children could especially be at risk for sexual violence. “An estimated one in four girls are sexually abused by age 18, and the abuse is typically perpetrated by a family member in the child’s home,” said Agrawal.
Increased Child Abuse Part II: Refinery 29 highlighted what the Childhood Domestic Violence Association and ChildHelp -- a leading hotline for victims and survivors of child abuse – are doing to help prevent child abuse during the pandemic. CCDVA has released a short film and Child Help has created a Coronavirus Task Force that meets each day. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services DCFS issued a press release about the potential increase, calling on the community to be the “voice for children.” “Social workers rely heavily on mandated reporters to initiate contact with our department in order for us to protect children. With this safeguard now gone, I am calling on Los Angeles County residents to be the voice for children who may be experiencing physical abuse, severe food insecurity or other forms of neglect,” said DCFS Director Bobby D. Cagle in the release.
Related article: CNN: Parents have a right to be stressed. But don't take it out on your kids
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Kids, Babies and Transmission
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Playing It Out: Play is children’s essential language, and parents shouldn’t be concerned if the coronavirus is appearing in their children’s games and make-believe scenarios, as reported by The Atlantic. According to child psychologist experts, engaging in imaginative play helps children learn creative problem-solving and process emotions, often serving as an outlet for kids to express concerns, worries or questions. While sometimes these games can get morbid and even mention death, experts say that unless the game involves repetitive scenarios or instances where a child is truly expressing distress, parents need not discourage their child’s imaginative play related to the pandemic. Instead, the experts suggest monitoring them to get a read on their emotional states and worries, work together to provide ways for them to feel safe and fact-check them when necessary.
Healthy Attachment: While the pandemic may be impacting the content of children’s games, parents may also be wondering about other long term impacts pandemic-related “social distancing” may have on social development. According to HealthLine, extra time spent at home with parents and siblings may actually have a beneficial effect on younger children but may be more detrimental to older adolescents who depend more on peers for emotional development. “For kids under 5, this may actually be great for them,” says one child psychologist. “Just having mom and dad home to attach with 24/7 — we may come out of this and realize we have a lot of kids who now have really healthy attachment styles.”
Related article: Quartz: A support guide for parents raising babies and toddlers through the coronavirus crisis
Mostly Sparing Children: American children with the coronavirus are significantly less likely to become severely ill, according to the first data which analyzed roughly 150,000 of the confirmed U.S causes with 2,572 of them being children under 18, as reported by The New York Times. Relatively few children with coronavirus are hospitalized, and fewer children than adults experience fever, shortness of breath or cough, as reported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Researchers estimated that only 6% of children were hospitalized, compared to 10% of the analyzed adult cases. At least three of the cases in children have resulted in death, but the data brief notes that these are still being reviewed, as reported by the U.S. World and News Report. While the data is still preliminary, the initial findings are consistent with reports from China where less than 2% of cases occurred in children under 18, as reported by The Center for Health Journalism. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why children experience milder cases, but some theories suggest that the virus doesn’t bind as well to the cell walls in children while another theory states that due to the abundance of viruses that already exist in children’s respiratory systems, it may make it more difficult for coronavirus to interfere.
Face Masks and Kids: According to new guidelines from the CDC, the state and L.A. County, all residents should be wearing some kind of facial covering when they go out in public, except for children under 2, reports Early Childhood Journalist Mariana Dale for LAist. Face masks pose a suffocation risk for toddlers and babies, and kids may be reluctant to wear them in the first place. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to keep your baby protected from the virus, as reported by The Huffington Post. Experts are urging parents to closely adhere to social distancing guidelines while being diligent about keeping their children’s hands clean with frequent hand washing. For children who are old enough to wear a mask –– which Slate points out is more for the benefit of the community than it is for the individual’s safety –– appealing to a child’s love of accessories or dress up may work to help keep the masks on. Whenever possible, however, experts suggest that parents leave the children at home as an extra precaution.
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COVID-19 Response Team: Join First 5 LA's Director of Early Care and Education, Becca Patton and several other early childhood education (ECE) leaders for a Community Call regarding the availability of child care and ECE for essential workers. Call in tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and retweet to spread the word!
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It, Non COVID-19 Stories
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