Home should be a child’s first line of defense and protection. Every adult’s first instinct is to protect our young who are vulnerable to various dangers in life. However, it is not always so. Now that we are mostly homebound with the pandemic in our midst, media reports that not all homes are safe havens. The Covid-19 is quickly changing the context in which children live. Many are trapped in abusive and neglectful situations in the home.
Nowadays, children’s rights to safety and protection as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action are threatened. As governments implement lockdowns and stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the risk factors for violence, abuse, and neglect are on the rise for children under confinement. Here, parents and caregivers must now manage their children’s schooling, work from home arrangements added to their usual caregiving responsibilities. Unpredictable and sudden events such as family deaths can shift care duties. Children, especially adolescents, may face mounting pressure to help provide for their families.
Common risk factors for violence, abuse and neglect associated with the Covid-19 pandemic include increased poverty and food insecurity due to the loss of jobs and incomes, the inability of children to access education either in person or online, an increase in their digital activity, and a decrease in caregiver monitoring. These instances expose them to greater digital risks, absence of nutritious meals previously provided by schools and care programs, disruption of peer and social support networks and community or social support services, a breakdown in routines for children/caregivers, and increased alcohol and/or substance use by adolescents/caregivers.
Any and all of these factors can increase the risk of harm to children at the same time stressing caregivers making them violent or abusive. These new stresses at a time when children are less visible to individuals and professionals who are normally engaged in their protection, and child and family welfare services are over-stretched and disrupted.
Our children are our future. We cannot afford to just watch and do nothing. Child rights should be safeguarded at all costs. Protecting children from violence requires all sectors to take coordinated measures. On the part of educators and guidance counselors, they can do a great deal in preventing child oppression by providing them with continued access to school-based education and counseling through phone or online. They can continue to monitor the well-being of children in at-risk families. They can help children to reestablish a sense of their education routines through remote schooling and by working with public and private entities to provide children with access to educators and virtual learning platforms (e.g. Internet access, laptops/tablets, etc.) Another is by encouraging school counselors to work with at-risk children to develop personal safety plans. They can also reinforce positive behaviors and discourage negative ones among students through homeroom engagements to include information on the protection of children from violence, abuse, and neglect.
We can protect children in all types of homes in the context of the Covid-19. We just have to work hand in hand and not allow this virus to quickly turn into a broader child rights’ crisis. It is every responsible citizen’s duty to safeguard children at home. (BRENDALEE C. AWINGAN)
May 20, 2024
