Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The literature on alternative care focuses overwhelmingly on formal, court-ordered placements; voluntary care placements are discussed less frequently. Least attention of all has been given to informal kinship care placements, where a child is cared for by relatives but is not formally in the legal care of state authorities. In Ireland, these placements, when facilitated by state authorities in lieu of a care order or voluntary care agreement, are known by professionals as ‘private family arrangements’. This article explores evidence which shows that the use of such arrangements is motivated partly by a concern for subsidiarity, and partly by necessity: they provide a source of placements in cases where regulatory requirements and a lack of resources would otherwise make the placement challenging or impossible.

Mitigating the adverse physical health risks associated with COVID-19 has been a priority of public health incentives. Less attention has been placed on understanding the psychological factors related to the global pandemic, especially among vulnerable populations. This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of children and adolescents during COVID-19. This study interviewed 48 families during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and a national lockdown, to understand its impacts.

The emergence of the coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) resulted in a global pandemic. The psychological impact of an epidemic is multifaceted and acute, with long-term consequences. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey-based design was employed, assessing the psychological impact of COVID-19 on members of the Irish public during the quarantine period of COVID-19 in Ireland. Participants were invited to complete the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) retrospectively (prior to quarantine) and during the quarantine period, as well as measures of illness perceptions, well-being, and a bespoke measure (the Effects of COVID Questionnaire, ECQ), which assessed perceptions of COVID-related stresses associated with personal concerns, caring for children, caring for aging parents, as well as gratitude.

The Covid-19 pandemic created an unprecedented situation whereby essential services within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) were suspended. This created a need to modify regular methods of treatment at a rapid pace, to avoid cessation of clinical intervention and prevent potential regression in mental health. Eighteen children with moderate-severe mental health disorders and their parents were attending weekly group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based sessions (‘The Secret Agent Society’ (SAS) programme) when the Irish Department of Health suspended face-to-face intervention. This report describes how the group sessions were adapted to individualized, online therapeutic triads between each child, his/her parent and their clinician. Whilst internet technology has emerged as a promising solution to shortfalls in therapy services, in-depth exploration is needed to confirm the efficacy of telehealth for children attending CAMHS.

This is a personal reflection, as a female academic during Covid-19, on how women's academic productivity seems primarily to be discussed in relation to a different kind of productivity-motherhood. A recent procedure in a maternity hospital, evoked feelings and associations of mothering and being mothered, and how these associations hover over relationships regardless of whether wombs are productive or not. My hope in writing this piece, is that every woman's fear and anxiety may be productively contained (regardless of how she is seen from the outside or momentarily construed from within) during this time of extraordinary turmoil.