Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The pandemic caused by the global spread of the coronavirus Covid-19 is harming social, educational and health well-being of children, with the most vulnerable being hit the hardest. Children are being impacted directly, through school, extra-curricular and childcare facilities closures, social distancing and confinement, which puts a heavy burden on their educational, cognitive and emotional development, with the risk of increasing their anxiety and stress levels. Children are also being impacted indirectly, through the reduction of household incomes, which reduces their material and social well-being, impairs access to social and healthcare, while also exposing the hardest hit to risks malnutrition. It is critical to understand that the negative impact of the Covid-19 crisis may be particularly strong for some groups of children including those living in poverty, children with disabilities, children deprived of parental care, children in detention and so on. Furthermore, negative impacts of this scale may extend well beyond the short term spreading childhood poverty across many childhood years or beyond.

Between December 1, 2019 and July 16, 2020, this document has been updated daily with the goal of compiling media updates related to domestic violence, sexual violence, child maltreatment, gender equality and women’s rights during COVID-19 in selected countries. The objective of this process was to monitor and understand media coverage of these issues to inform the development and implementation of policies, programs, and approaches to prevent and address domestic violence, sexual violence, child maltreatment, and gender inequality in the context of COVID-19.

This discussion paper sets forth the lessons on urban vulnerability and safety, relevant to the security sector, emerging from coronavirus (Covid-19) and its related socioeconomic impacts on urban societies in low- and middle-income countries.

Las condiciones de vida de las y los migrantes venezolanos han empeorado en el actual contexto de pandemia. Las evaluaciones realizadas por los organismos asociados muestran que la mayoría de las familias venezolanas no han tenido ingresos desde que comenzó la inmovilización social obligatoria y muchas han perdido sus trabajos. Las evaluaciones confirman que el acceso a los alimentos es la principal prioridad de las familias venezolanas, y para acceder a ellos adoptan estrategias negativas como comer alimentos más baratos o menos preferidos, pedir alimentos prestados y en algunos casos, mendigar dinero para obtener alimentos.

This new analysis confirms the initial findings and predictions of the first analysis. It also reveals new areas of high priority for women and girls—and for men and boys—as the crisis deepens.

This article shows that support systems and safety nets that allow children to thrive have been stripped away during this pandemic. Family illness, and mental and financial stress have challenged the family unit. Social connections necessary for child development have been interrupted. Institutions that children depend on—schools, primary care, social services, and churches—are seriously disrupted. While there have been admirable efforts to cope, there is opportunity and urgency to develop and implement new connections, supports, and safety nets for children and families.

The goal of the present study was to better understand the impact of the pandemic and associated response measures on vulnerable children and families and provide data-informed recommendations for public and private service providers working with this population.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, public services are having to rethink how they continue to operate and provide for those most in need of care and support. Amongst the most vulnerable groups, for reasons other than the virus, are children and young people known to children’s service departments. The role and statutory functions of children’s social care (CSC) set out in primary legislation have remained the same during the COVID-19 period1 but it has been necessary to find ways to fulfil these within very changed circumstances. This study was designed to examine the arrangements that were introduced during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown by working with 15 representatives of English local authorities to understand the changes put in place, how they had worked and what the legacy might be.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented economic, health and social impacts as it has swept the globe. Intercountry adoption and international surrogacy are practices immediately affected, furthering vulnerabilities of children and vulnerable adults. This short report calls attention to heightened risks, raises awareness for practitioners in these fields and asserts the need for caution.

Between 20-21 May, Save the Children undertook a remote scoping exercise to assess the sentiments of children aged 6-15 across seven provinces of the country. A total of 74 responses, including 32 boys and 42 girls, were collected via phone calls by Save the Children ’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL) staff. The questions posed to the children were open-ended, simply asking about what they knew about COVID-19 and how it has impacted their lives and those of their families and communities. This approach was employed in order to better ensure objective responses/reflections from children.

This report presents the main findings of a Save the Children child protection rapid survey. The survey finds that children are increasingly vulnerable and at risk - from an increase in violence and abuse, stress, poverty and hazardous coping strategies such as child labour and child marriage.

This policy brief focuses mainly on the pandemic’s impacts on the youth involved in entrepreneurial activities in agrifood systems (young agripreneurs).

To monitor the household-level impacts of COVID-19, the National Statistics Office of Mongolia (NSO) and the World Bank have implemented a joint COVID-19 Household Response Phone Survey (HRPS) on a national sample of 1,334 households.

To combat the spread of COVID-19, many primary and secondary schools in the United States canceled classes and moved instruction online. This study examines an unexplored consequence of COVID-19 school closures: the broken link between child maltreatment victims and the number one source of reported maltreatment allegations---school personnel.

Asia is home to more than half of the world’s 1.1 billion girls. Gender inequality in many parts of the region means that girls are often systematically disadvantaged and oppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination. Emerging data shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, violence against girls and women, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. Partly due to containment measures during COVID19, systems and services that are mandated to prevent, identify, and respond to violence against children are operating with limited or no capacity. Inadequate levels of government and donor investments in child protection, as well as gaps in the functionality of systems and effective enforcement of laws and policies have been pervasive. These existing challenges have been further exacerbated by the pandemic and are now affecting all children, while disproportionately impacting girls.