Children and COVID-19 Research Library

As COVID-19 sweeps across the country, individuals within the carceral system face an increased risk of contracting the virus, and as a result, heightened risk for mental health symptoms. This paper discusses how COVID-19 appears to be exacerbating mental health inequities for children within the carceral system and the need to respond accordingly. Children within the carceral system represent a particularly vulnerable population, and the majority of detained or confined youth identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). As juvenile detention centers in multiple states report cases of COVID-19, children who are confined are experiencing higher rates of illness and fear of illness. It is crucial to consider how the mental health of children who are confined will be disproportionately affected compared with the general population.

Covid-19 vaccination campaigns for adolescents have been taking place in many countries for some months. The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunisation have called for vaccine prioritisation within countries to take into account the needs of those groups that, due to underlying social, ethnic, geographic, or biomedical factors, are at greater risk of getting infected or suffering most severe consequences from covid-19. Since the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is considerably higher in prisons and detention facilities than elsewhere, adolescents who are detained in juvenile institutions should be prioritised for vaccination.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense change and stress among adolescents. Yet, little is known about youths’ concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is particularly true among youth who have been highly impacted by the pandemic—namely, justice system-involved youth, low-income youth, and youth who consider themselves to be low status. Youth from the community, youth on probation, and incarcerated youth completed a survey describing their concerns related to COVID-19 across three concern domains: economic, social concerns, and COVID-19 itself.

When the pandemic was declared in April last year, UNICEF issued a global call for the immediate and safe release of children from detention, recognizing that they were at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 in confined and overcrowded spaces. This report, Detention of children in the time of COVID, highlights the historic number of children released from detention in response to COVID-19 pandemic, and discusses how these results and related challenges offer a chance to rethink approaches, release more children, end the detention of children and build on these results for wider justice reforms for children.

Case management can be a complex process where multiple factors must be considered for the safety and well-being of a child in any care option. Miracle Foundation’s proprietary Home Thrive ScaleTM is a strengths-based assessment tool that makes it easier to identify strengths, risks and address areas of support within a family home over time. A home’s safety is measured based on five well-being domains—family and social relations, health and mental health, education, living conditions and household economy—with the child and family’s thoughts at the core. Intervention options are then offered to put assessments into action. The tool serves to both prevent family breakdowns and reintegrate children from institutions back into families (or other family-based or alternative care options). This study provides an overview of the tool, including its purpose, set-up and functionality within a case management system. The use of the tool is illustrated with the COVID-19 situation in India where masses of children were rapidly placed from institutions back into families without preparation.

The implementation of public health measures in response to the covid-19 pandemic has impacted heavily on the operation of child justice systems and places of detention, creating new challenges in the safeguarding and implementation of children’s rights. Yet, it has also been a time of innovation, particularly in the use of technology. Using case studies from Ireland and Aotearoa New Zealand, we discuss how technology has been used to maintain the balance between restrictive yet necessary public health measures and the operation of the child justice system. Examples include remote participation in remand hearings and trial and the use of “virtual visits” for children in detention.

Serious concerns for the safety and well-being of children and young people are multiplying due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for children’s urgent release from prison. Evidence demonstrates that incarceration can aggravate existing health conditions and result in new health issues, such as depression, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper draws on findings from a larger study involving 25 qualitative interviews with policy makers, practitioners and researchers working in youth justice and utilises Victoria in South East Australia as a case study.

This article compares and contrasts two humanitarian emergencies and their impact on Nepal: these are the Nepal earthquake in 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It explains how each emergency has impacted children without parental care or at risk of family separation, with specific reference to orphanage trafficking, voluntourism, child institutionalisation and family preservation. In relation to each emergency, the article considers the role of disaster preparedness; the roles of the Nepal government, the international community and civil society; and the significance of one emergency being localised, while the other is a global phenomenon. It also shows that while these emergencies have increased the risk of harm and exploitation for children and families, they have also driven forward innovation in child protection practices, particularly through the use of reintegration, case management and family preservation programmes.

This article has been developed based on a systematic review of research studies conducted in the last 10 years on family-based childcare systems and a rapid review of research and assessments conducted in 2020 to explore the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on adoption and foster care in India. The study explains child vulnerabilities with a focus on challenges to adoption and foster care before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings depict that India is home to a large number of vulnerable children who have been living with hardships, and the COVID-19 pandemic has put them at a higher risk of adversity

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has rattled the world and has severely compromised not only the public health system but has decelerated the global economy. In this backdrop, the article explores the dynamics of the institutional care of the out-of-home care (OHC) children, adolescents and children who are residing in alternative care homes, childcare institutes (CCIs), foster homes and who are in conflict with law like refugees or in juvenile correctional centres. The article attempts to highlight the risk factors and systematic barriers that CCIs and associated functionaries have been confronting in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. It would also catalogue the remedial, preventive and protective initiatives undertaken as best practices. 

Evidence and objective assessment are needed more than ever to help enhance the rights and well-being of the world’s children. Researching the changing world around us and evaluating progress are two sides of the same coin, both critical to reimagining a better future for children. In recognition of this, UNICEF celebrates and showcases innovative and influential research and evaluations from our offices around the world every year. For 2020, Innocenti and the Evaluation Office joined forces to find the most rigorous UNICEF studies with greatest influence on policies and programmes that benefit children.

This study surveyed and analyzed common diseases among children under the age of 14 in one social children welfare institute in Shanxi Province from January to May in 2018–2020 by the year-on-year method. In view of the above anti-epidemic measures, it indicates that the children gathering institutions should strengthen effective personal protection and public health management to reduce infectious disease among children.