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Pages 1-11

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From page 1...
... The indirect impact of the pandemic is much harder to quantify, and the long-term effects are unknown. What is clear, however, is that in almost every outcome -- across measures of social, emotional, behavioral, educational, mental, physical, and economic health and well-being -- lowincome and racially and ethnically minoritized children and their families have borne, and without intervention will continue to bear, the brunt of the pandemic's negative effects.1 The Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF)
From page 2...
... 3. What policies (e.g., child care, health care)
From page 3...
... Perhaps the most pronounced disparities are among bereaved children: children of racial and ethnic minorities account for 65 percent of those who have lost a primary caregiver because of COVID-19, with Native American children 4.5 times as likely as White children to have lost a parent or caregiver, Black children 2.4 times as likely, and Latino children 2.0 times as likely (Hillis et al., 2021)
From page 4...
... The most significant interruption was the closure of schools, which resulted in children's increased anxiety, reduced social interactions and peer relationships, lost learning opportunities in a school environment, and a widening of achievement gaps. The evidence shows: • declines in early childhood program enrollments -- the programs experiencing the highest enrollment losses were those serving ra cially and ethnically minoritized families, low-income families, and families that did not speak English at home; • for kindergarten, 9 percent fewer students enrolling in 2019–2020 than in the year before the pandemic, with larger declines in fully remote school districts, which disproportionately enrolled low income students; • for grades 1–8, average decline of a 3 percent in enrollment; • overall, declines in enrollment in public K–12 schools in the first school year after the pandemic began, with 1.3 million fewer stu dents than in the previous school year; • increases in chronic absenteeism, with 72 percent of public schools nationwide reporting higher chronic absenteeism rates than pre pandemic; and
From page 5...
... Physical and Mental Health Outcomes Although children have had lower infection rates and lower burden of symptomatic disease than adults, there are concerning short-term findings of health outcomes of COVID-19 infection and health outcomes. The evidence shows: • increased incidence of diabetes type 1 and type 2 among children during the pandemic, which may be due to a direct effect of the infection in children, or in the case of diabetes type 2, the increase in childhood obesity during the pandemic; • an increase in maternal mortality rates, with largest increases for Black and Latina women; • increases in the proportions of children with symptoms of depres sion and anxiety; • an increased rate of substance overdose deaths among adolescents, a majority of which were fentanyl related, with highest rates among Native American youth; • increases in household food insecurity and childhood obesity; and • delayed preventive care and immunizations, with lower rates of both for Black and Latino children.
From page 6...
... to ensure that all students could access virtual learning, and creating small cohorts or pods to mimic the social structures that are commonplace in in-person schooling. Pediatric clinicians and health care organizations quickly implemented telemedicine, even in the face of big utilization swings, higher-acuity patients, an increase in patients with behavioral and mental health crises, and later, a surge of serious respiratory illness among children that overwhelmed pediatric inpatient units and emergency departments.
From page 7...
... • Under the American Rescue Plan, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was expanded and shifted to monthly payment, resulting in a reduction of food insecurity in low-income households and reductions in household poverty.
From page 8...
... Without targeted intervention, pandemic-era disengagement and missed learning opportunities for students will have lasting damage, with an impact throughout adulthood for these children. A number of interventions can help shift students' life courses, as well as prepare for the next pandemic: these interventions include reengaging families and students who have become disengaged from schools; compensating for missed instructional time and missed opportunities for social and emotional development; supporting positive social and emotional development and recovery; strengthening
From page 9...
... School districts and early childhood cen ters will need funding to adequately address pandemic-related deficits in social and emotional development in early childhood and K–12 settings, and to provide ongoing support for optimal social and emotional development. • Education workforce: Attract, train, support, and retain an expanded educator workforce at the early childhood and K–12 levels with the goal of both strengthening the severely con tracted early childhood sector and supporting the K–12 staffing needed to reengage students and restore missed learning.
From page 10...
... While acute COVID-19 illness in the child population has not been as severe as it has been for adults, children have been affected, including those experiencing hospitalizations, long COVID symptoms, and death. Children aged 0–4 and those with underlying medical conditions, in particular, have faced greater risk from more serious illness with COVID-19 infection.
From page 11...
... • Ensure network adequacy, with a focus on the necessary net work of providers, specialty providers, and ancillary services needed for behavioral and mental health services, especially for children who have such pandemic-related or pandemic-ex acerbated conditions as bereavement, prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use. In addition to these actions by the U.S.


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