Exploring Disaster Human Services for Children and Youth From Hurricane Katrina to the Paradise Wildfires: Proceedings of a Workshop Series (2021) / Chapter Skim
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4 Exploring the Gaps in Evidence
4 Exploring the Gaps in Evidence
Pages 45-64
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From page 45... ...
PROGRESS AND GAPS IN SUPPORTING CHILDREN, YOUTH, FAMILIES, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS Lori Peek, director of the Natural Hazards Center and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, provided an overview of federal programs addressing child, youth, and family needs; identified gaps in knowledge; and highlighted opportunities to address those gaps. She also described an ongoing project focused on identifying federal resources targeting children and disasters.1 Such resources have increased since Hurricane Katrina, and 1 Peek noted that much of the information she presented is drawn from a chapter she co-authored called "Recognizing Vulnerability and Capacity: Federal Initiatives Focused on Children and Youth Across the Disaster Life Cycle," which is a summary and descriptive analysis of all federal programs geared specifically for children and youth, as well as available guidance documents aimed at caregivers, child care centers, schools, and other child-centric institutions (Peek and Domingue, 2020)
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From page 46... ...
Many agencies offer child- and disaster-focused educational programs and guidance documents aimed at parents, schools, child care centers, and child service providers. Gaps and Opportunities in Federal Programs for Children and Disasters Peek also identified gaps and the opportunities in federal programs that focus on children and disasters.
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STC is leading project efforts to increase VOAD and emergency management knowledge and awareness of children's needs in d isasters by developing and implementing interventions that are then assessed by the Natural Hazards Center to determine whether project goals are achieved.
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From page 48... ...
She outlined the effects of Hurricane Maria on food security, early care and education, and the coordination of services among stakeholders, and she highlighted opportunities to address service gaps during future disasters. She explained that YDI, a partner of the KIDS COUNT project, is both an advocacy entity and a think tank; this hybrid organization was formed because of the lack of entities carrying out policy, research, and advocacy work in Puerto Rico.
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From page 49... ...
and STC. The two initiatives revealed three major effects of Hurricane Maria: reduced food security, reduced child care, and reduced coordination of services.
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When high rates of poverty already affect food security before a disaster, a hurricane will only exacerbate these deficits, she said. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to school closures in Puerto Rico that have resulted in not only a loss of education, but also a major disruption to food security for families with children.
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The survey indicated that in Puerto Rico, the majority of child care (70 percent) takes place in informal settings in which the child is cared for by a family member or other adult caregiver.
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She suggested providing additional technical assistance to child care providers around disaster preparedness and recovery. Additionally, for-profit child care centers do not qualify for many of the donations and supports such as power generators and water filtration systems that are made available to nonprofit organizations.
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• Task forces can bring community-based entities, service providers, day care centers, nonprofit organizations, and advocates to the table with the government to allow for respectful challenging and dialogue about gaps, both immediately after a disaster and beyond. • Task forces can facilitate rapid collection of information and iden tification of gaps.
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From page 54... ...
This review documented a paucity of funded research on interventions to promote coping and adjustment for children after disasters, he said. Gaps in Research on the Effects of Disasters on Children's Mental and Behavioral Health Schonfeld underscored three prominent research gaps pertaining to the effects of disasters on children's mental and behavioral health: (1)
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From page 55... ...
Thus, evidence-based interventions have tended to focus on the prevention or treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, for which there are validated measures. Schonfeld stated that the report concluded that developing evidence-based interventions for children experiencing disaster is a national priority, and as such, research should be broadened beyond studying the prevalence of trauma, other mental health symptoms, and the effect of trauma approaches.
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Efficacy of Prevention Initiatives Involving Children in Disasters Schonfeld remarked that in the aftermath of disaster, children's stories, coloring books, and parent guides are often developed rapidly and disseminated widely by federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations. However, there is little research on the efficacy of prevention initiatives involving children (Grolnick et al., 2018)
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Schonfeld said this story is not unique, as many individuals that enter child-centered fields such as education, social services, child mental health, pediatrics, and so forth do so in response to experiencing childhood trauma, loss, or some other form of adversity in their own past. In coping with those experiences, they either benefited from the help of others, and want to similarly help someone else, or they recognized the effect that a lack of such assistance had on their own lives and they want to provide another with what they themselves did not receive.
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DISCUSSION Consequential Research Gaps Since Hurricane Katrina Beal asked the panel to consider documents such as NCCD's report and events such as Superstorm Sandy, the Paradise wildfires, and Hurri canes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. In reflecting on these documents and events, she asked the panelists what they consider to be the most consequential gap that has been addressed since Hurricane Katrina.
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schools and child care centers would become focal points. Building Awareness and Action Around Children and Youth in Disasters Michael Prasad, Barton Dunant Emergency Management Consulting & Training, highlighted the need to build awareness and action around
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Childhood is simply a time period in all lives -- an important, vulnerable, and critical time period that warrants special attention, he concluded. Promoting Requirements for Uniform Data Collection Patricia Frost, National Pediatric Disaster Coalition, asked about how to promote requirements for the adoption of uniform data collection, based
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From page 61... ...
The Natural Hazards Center is encouraging (but not requiring) researchers to publish their data through DesignSafe-CI funded by the National Science Foundation.7 This platform was predominantly created for engineers, but the Natural Hazards Center has partnered with DesignSafe-CI to ensure it is also accessible to social and behavioral scientists.
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From page 62... ...
She pointed out that after the task force conducted the survey and presented recommendations, the local emergency management agency was receptive. Donna Wolf, a psychology instructor and school counselor, suggested using school-based mental health centers in high schools to employ youth and "adult anchors" in mitigation and recovery.
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From page 63... ...
" Peek said that this is an opportunity to learn from children and youth and observe where they are receiving services in order to get vital resources to more of them. Schonfeld added that individuals who do not have legal status in the United States have particular difficulty accessing services.
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From page 64... ...
64 EXPLORING DISASTER HUMAN SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he worked with recovery efforts for New York City schools. Some students did not want the school to know that a parent had died on 9/11 because they did not want to be a "9/11 kid." Not all students and staff are comfortable receiving services in schools and people sometimes prefer to access services in a neighboring community where they feel they have more privacy.
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