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It's exciting to see people vaccinated, like maybe the end is in sight, but my story today has some tough news: We're going to need a lot more than immunity to cure the painful consequences of this year for kids. Especially vulnerable kids: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/covid-having-devastating-impact-children-vaccine-won-t-fix-everything-n1251172
For this story for @NBCNews, I tried to find as many child welfare metrics as I could to see how this year has affected children. The toll goes far beyond illness or learning loss or grief.
Kids are reeling socially, emotionally, academically, from trauma, hunger, displacement. Millions aren't enrolled in school at all. Millions more are missing dangerous amounts of class time.
The kids likely suffering the most were already behind, facing racial, economic and other inequities that have only become more pronounced, said @DavidGHinojosa from @LawyersComm. ELLs aren't getting services, he said, "students with disabilities have been grossly neglected."
Experts and advocates I talked to compared the long-term impact of this year to hurricanes and other disasters -- and called for a sweeping, powerful response, not just to Covid, but its aftermath.
You can't just go back after a hurricane and live your life. You have to rebuild — in more ways than one. "We're going to almost need a New Deal for an entire generation of kids to give them the opportunity to catch up," said Billy Shore of @nokidhungry
"If we fail to address this, we're just compounding trauma," said @DuffieldBarbara from @SchoolHouseConn. A study from her org shows est. 420,000 fewer homeless students known to schools now even as homelessness is surely up. That means families in crisis aren't getting help.
I talked to @marybethnjoey in NC who shared the frustration of watching four grandchildren — who'd begun to overcome early childhood trauma — now struggling again because of COVID. They're anxious, slipping in school. She worries about having enough food for them.
I talked to @immaculate in WA who worries about a son who's so sad and isolated in his room, his grades have slipped in a crucial year for college applications. Her home is crowded after homeless relatives moved in.
In Detroit, a woman worries about the grandnieces and nephews she's raising who had special needs pre-pandemic but had started making progress — until this year when the supports from school largely dried up. Worse, several relatives have died, new grief compounding old.
In California, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico talks about sitting with her children in the car as they try to find WiFi to connect to their classes. Now sick with Covid, they worry about money since they can't work.
The emotional toll for families like these won't just go away when the pandemic ends, said @pgionfriddo
from @MentalHealthAm. "Trauma builds on trauma," he said. He worries about a generation of children who could live the mental health consequences long into the future.
from @MentalHealthAm. "Trauma builds on trauma," he said. He worries about a generation of children who could live the mental health consequences long into the future.
The situation calls for a "massive mobilization," a response "on par the level of hardship," said @RollinMiriam @NCYLnews. With the right response, "this crisis could actually help transform our schools."
But will it? Will anything change? Or will we go back to what we had before? Schools funded the same way, the same services, same curriculum, same supports? Will we try to return to the normal we had, even as it's increasingly clear that there's no going back?
