According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, children do not seem to be at higher risk for getting COVID-19 with the exception of children with special health care needs.
Early research suggests that fewer children than adults with COVID-19 get a fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Few children with COVID-19 have had to be hospitalized.
While the impacts are not significant physically, they are taking their toll on the mental health and well-being of kids and families.
Children are likely to be experiencing worry, anxiety and fear, and this can include the same fears in adults. Will I get sick? Will my family or friends get sick? Will someone I love die?
Parents, family members, school staff, and other trusted adults can play an important role in helping children make sense of what they hear in a way that is honest, accurate and minimizes anxiety or fear.
First, we must recognize that not all children and teens respond to stress in the same way. It is important to provide information that is truthful and appropriate for the age and developmental level of each child.
You can support your child by talking to them about COVID-19, answer questions and share facts in a way that your child can understand. The CDC provides exceptional resources to that end.
Reassure your child that they are safe but let them know it is OK if they feel upset. Let children know they can come to you with questions.
Limit your family’s exposure to news coverage, including social media. Children might misinterpret what they hear and can be frightened about something they do not understand.
Remember that children will react to what you say and how you say it. Remain calm. They will pick up cues from the conversations you have with them and with others.
Try to keep up with routines. If schools are closed, create a schedule for learning activities and relaxing or fun activities like reading, exercising or playing board games.
Finally, teach children actions to reduce the spread of germs. Remind them to wash their hands frequently and cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow.
For foster parents, COVID-19 serves up an extra set of challenges. School closure, camps canceled and limited visits with birth families. Therapy, common for foster children, takes place over video calls rather than in person.
Like all parents, those with foster kids can struggle with working from home while taking care of children. But foster children, who come from the havoc of unstable families and then get handed off to strangers, often need more attention.
Kids Crossing, a nonprofit child placement agency founded by foster parents, for foster parents, has seen our foster families host proms, stage graduations and set up “at home” camps to keep the kids engaged and enthusiastic about the future.
Foster parents are special. They are used to handling challenging situations. This pandemic is just another set of challenges, and our foster parents are meeting those challenges every day.
We have been pleased to receive an increase in inquiries about fostering. During this time of isolation, we believe individuals are soul searching, looking for purpose and meaning in their lives. That silver lining is leading people to offer a temporary home that can make a forever difference in the life of a child.
There are multiple tools available to protect kids in our community. The state of Colorado provides a hotline, available 24 hours a day, for individuals to report suspected abuse and neglect (1-844-CO4KIDS). The hotline has seen a 40% drop in calls since March.
That decrease isn’t because there is less child abuse. Experts believe that more children and adolescents have been exposed to child abuse and isolation, and they continue to be confined to a toxic environment, minus the presence of a mandatory reporter.
Anyone in the community can help prevent child abuse and neglect, especially by reporting incidents and information of concern.
One thing is clear — we must work together, as a community, and provide psycho-social support, counseling, and guidance for children, families, and schoolteachers, to mitigate the mental and emotional impacts of the pandemic.
Let’s commit to keeping our eyes open and being available for a child, the indirect target of COVID-19.
Lee Oesterle, MSW, LCSW, is the executive director of Kids Crossing, a private, nonprofit child placement agency and counseling center serving kids and families in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and La Junta.
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