Addressing the Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Families (2023) / Chapter Skim
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7 Recommendations
7 Recommendations
Pages 211-223
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From page 211... ...
Political divisiveness and polarization, mistrust in government, and the historical background of mistreatment of minoritized populations in health care created an atmosphere in which misinformation and disinformation about the pandemic spread quickly through social media, further exacerbating the pandemic's negative effects in those communities. As described throughout this report, rates of COVID-19 illness, hospitalization, and death have been higher in low-income and racially and ethnically minoritized communities than in White and more socioeconomically advantaged communities.
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From page 212... ...
This fundamental idea suggests that the most effective interventions are those that focus on relevant developmental tasks, stretch key developmental windows, and are ecologically embedded and relevant to individual and group experiences, extending from the past and into the future. Moreover, investments are needed to ensure that across all child- and family-related sectors (e.g., education, health, social services, and juvenile justice)
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From page 213... ...
Recommendation 2: All federal and state agencies and departments involved in COVID-19 pandemic relief planning and future public health disasters should address the needs of pregnant people, and children, and low-income and racially and ethnically minoritized populations, including children and adolescents in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, in the planning and management of public health disaster relief and recovery efforts. Children and families will need to be prioritized in pandemic management and preparedness planning.
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From page 214... ...
Recommendation 3: The U.S. Department of Education should renew pandemic-related funding that allocates a greater proportion of funding to high-poverty schools, and funding to support early childhood education, to address enrollment and reengagement; academic recovery and achievement; recovery and optimization of positive social and emotional development; support and expansion of the education workforce; and preparation for the next pandemic, "pandemic proofing." These investments should be made in coordination with other federal agencies, including the U.S.
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From page 215... ...
With additional resources, schools will be better able to overcome prepandemic gaps in funding, as well as the compounded needs for educational supports that arose because of the pandemic, potentially reducing the wide funding gap in public school systems. This funding needs to be sufficient to address enrollment and reengagement, academic recovery and achievement, recovery and optimization of positive social and emotional development, workforce support and expansion, and preparation for the next pandemic.
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From page 216... ...
School districts can adopt any or all of a number of evidence-based measures to increase instructional time, including: • intensive small-group tutoring in school by trained tutors; • academic programming during school vacation breaks and summers; • afterschool programming that incorporates academic content; • extending school days or school years to start earlier or end later; and • high-dosage mentoring by trained staff and volunteers. It is important to recognize that many "evidence-based" interventions were not designed for or tested among some racially and ethnically minoritized populations; intervention adaptation and community engagement about which of these interventions to implement will be critical.
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From page 217... ...
In addition, some interventions are designed to provide children with opportunities to learn and practice foundational social and emotional skills and perspectives that enable them to manage and respond to ongoing experiences of uncertainty and disruption. Across the interventions, a central feature is connection to adults and experiences that offer opportunities for ongoing screening and observation to identify children who are struggling and to connect them to more intensive supports.
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From page 218... ...
Without a focused strategy to correct the potential negatively altered life courses that the pandemic has shifted for so many children, they may enter adulthood with worse mental health and a greater burden of chronic disease, leading to greater negative consequences for this generation as they age. Federal efforts to halt disenrollment from Medicaid during the public health emergency was critical for access to health care for low-income families throughout the pandemic, but this provision will end on March 31, 2023.
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From page 219... ...
HHS should lead and coordinate efforts to: x advance and implement polices that ensure mental health parity to physical health for preventive and treatment-related behavioral health services provided in clinical settings, communities, and schools; x expand Medicaid payment to be inclusive of nonmedical professionals for preventive and community-based behavioral services; and x strengthen the child behavioral health workforce by increasing implementation of training programs in evidence-based mental and behavioral care, expanding opportunities for racially and ethnically minoritized individuals to enter a pathway for child behavioral health workforce participation; and expanding loan repayment programs for child behavioral health care professions. ADDRESS ECONOMIC NEEDS As detailed throughout this report, the negative socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic were widespread, but they fell particularly on children and families in households with low incomes and those from racially and ethnically minoritized groups.
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From page 220... ...
The federal government should incentivize states to expand the number of families served in these safety net programs, raise the floor benefit levels states must provide in relevant programs, and reduce administrative burdens to facilitate program participation. These improvements should be coupled with rigorous evaluations of the effects of program expansion on family socioeconomic well-being, especially in states where safety net capacities are substantially enhanced.
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From page 221... ...
Recommendation 9: Public and private agencies, at the federal, state, and local levels, should eliminate existing barriers to and support mechanisms for child- and family-serving systems to collaborate on the systematic linking of data on children and families, across health, education, social services, juvenile justice, child welfare systems with other federal and state administrative data, to optimize and promote advancement in services, policy, programs, and research to address the negative effects of the pandemic on child and family well-being. Systematic linkage of child- and family-level data from health care, education, social services, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems and in consultation and collaboration with low-income, minoritized, and underserved communities is needed to better develop, tailor, and target interventions to those most in need.
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From page 222... ...
It will be important for those investments to include: • expand existing nationally representative survey data -- such as the Survey of Income and Public Program Participation, the Current Population Survey, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics -- to include pandemic-related questions for families, adults, youth, and children; • prioritize rigorous research to identify whether the type of pandemic-era economic programs can enhance marginalized families' socioeconomic mobility, as well as health and well-being, in the aftermath of COVID-19; and • continue to fund research and experimentation methods on the effects of reducing administrative burdens in safety net and social insurance programs The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently began an initiative on administrative burden reductions in public programs, and OMB is recommending this work continue and be further bolstered with increased funding and rigorous research and methodologies, including assessing the heterogeneous effects of reduced administrative burdens among diverse populations and states.
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From page 223... ...
The goal is to ensure that a generation of Black, Latino, and Native American children and children in low-income households, despite living through the COVID-19 pandemic and being subjected to its adversities, enters and progresses through adulthood with health and well-being that is optimized to allow them to reach their full life potential. Prepublication copy, uncorrected proofs 223
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