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Prepared by
Alyssa Howes, paralegal, with assistance from Karen S. Law
Drug Use
During Pandemic Increases the Number of Children Entering Foster Care
According to the CDC, as of June
2020, 13% of Americans reported starting or increasing substance use as a way
of managing stress or emotions caused by the pandemic (Czeisler, 2020). A
reporting system called “ODMAP,” Overdose Detection Mapping Application
Program, found that there was an 18% increase in overdoses nationwide during
the early months of the pandemic compared to the same months in 2019.
Statistics have shown that this trend continued throughout 2020. In December of
2020, the American Medical Association reported that at least 40 U.S. states
have seen increases in opioid-related deaths, as well as continuing concerns
for those with substance abuse disorders (Abramson, 2021).
Mandy Owens, PhD, a psychologist
and researcher at the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Institute, says that along with the sudden increase in substance use during the
pandemic, she has observed an increase in both quantity and frequency of drug
use. Research on drug use and overdose deaths have demonstrated that
covid-related stressors, such as financial instability, loneliness, and anxiety
about the virus, have contributed immensely to the increase in drug use.
William Stoops, PhD, professor of behavioral science, psychiatry and psychology
at the University of Kentucky says, “People are more stressed and isolated, so
they make unhealthy decisions, including drinking more and taking drugs.”
(Abramson, 2021).
Although we do not yet have hard
statistics, we can surmise from the increased use of substances and the general
increase in poverty and homelessness during COVID-19, that more birth parents
will have children removed for abandonment, abuse, and neglect. It will be
challenging for them to regain custody of their children under the
circumstances.
There are also practical, as well
as systemic barriers to reunification. For example, parenting reunification
visits have had to be conducted remotely, not in person, due to COVID-19.
Additionally, social services agencies have workers working remotely. It may be
more difficult for birth parents to utilize in person services. For the most
part, states have been able to adapt to the challenge of remotely conducting
adoptions and foster care placements; but caseworkers in New York, for example,
report that COVID-19 has made it much more difficult to do their jobs of
serving the over 400,000 children currently in the system (Dodge, 2021).
Fewer Foster
Parents Available
More kids have
been entering the foster care system during the pandemic, but there are fewer
families who are willing to take them in (Adams, 2020). Lyndsey C. Wilson, CEO
of First Star, a national nonprofit that supports children in foster care,
spoke to her experience during the pandemic: she has seen children transferred
from foster placement to foster placement, through no fault of the child, but
because the caregivers are concerned about Covid-19 (Adams, 2020). Health
concerns, related to COVID-19, discourage people who want to foster children
from doing so. There are many foster parents who have health issues and/or are
immunocompromised, and they are apprehensive about expanding their households
currently. This is a realistic concern. In Texas, for example, child welfare
agencies have reported that children in foster care are contracting COVID-19 at
twice the rate of the general population (Adams, 2020).
In addition to
health concerns, fewer people are willing to take care of foster children
during this time due to financial strain. The economic fallout of COVID-19 and
the shutdown have devastated some foster parents financially, leaving them
unable to take in new children. Many foster parents have experienced job loss
due the pandemic. Because a stable financial situation is a requirement for
fostering children, this has disqualified them from qualifying as a foster
parent.
Children
Aging Out Face Extra Challenges
Child welfare
professionals are also concerned about teens aging out, or “emancipating,” from
foster care. When the child reaches that point, between ages 18 and 21
depending on the state, local governments are no longer required to provide
them financial assistance. Even before COVID-19, this transition into adulthood
was a difficult period for the 20,000 emancipated foster youth each year
(Dodge, 2021). During the pandemic, those aging out of foster care are faced
with a great deal of problems and it is evident that many are struggling to
manage. In May of 2020, FosterClub, a non-profit organization supporting youth
in foster care, conducted a survey of 613 former foster youth, ages 18 to 24,
to gain insight on how the pandemic was affecting young adults who were
previously in the foster care system. According to the results, 65% of respondents
working before the pandemic reported losing their jobs, 23% said they were
experiencing housing insecurity, and only 37% said they had an adult they could
turn to (Dodge, 2021).
Increasing
Teen Suicide Rates and Necessity of Additional Mental Health Services
Since the beginning of the
pandemic, healthcare providers across the country have reported increases in
mental-health related emergencies in adolescents. According to the CDC, between
February and March of 2020, suspected suicide attempts among girls ages 12-17
was 50.6% higher than it was during the same time in 2019; among boys aged
12–17 years, suspected suicide attempt emergency department visits increased
3.7% (Yard, et al. 2021). Additionally, among adolescents ages 12–17, the proportion
of emergency department visits related to mental health increased by 31% in
2020 compared to 2019. Researchers for the CDC suspect that risk factors for
suicide include physical distancing (including school attendance and social
contact with teachers and peers); lack of access to mental health treatment;
increases in substance use; and anxiety about family health and economic
problems (Yard, et al. 2021).
Reporters for NPR spoke with
providers at hospitals in seven states across the country, to investigate
recent mental health trends among adolescents. All the hospitals reported that
more suicidal children are visiting their hospitals, and they are in worse
mental states (Chatterjee, 2021). Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis
reported that the number of adolescents hospitalized after suicide attempts
increased from 67 to 108, from 2019 to 2020. Hillary Blake, a pediatric
psychologist at the hospital, said that October 2020 showed a 250% increase in
these numbers when compared to October 2019 (Chatterjee, 2021). The pandemic
has created many stress factors for children, which are increasing the risk of
suicide for many. COVID-19 and the shutdown have worsened the children's mental
health crisis, which was already an issue before the pandemic. For a decade,
suicide rates have been going up among adolescents (Chatterjee, 2021).
Due to the exacerbation of mental
health crises among adolescents in general, one would expect that there would
be an increased need for therapy and mental health services to teens in foster
care. Both foster care parents and social workers will need to be proactive in
obtaining the appropriate care for children who are suffering during this time.
Students in
Foster Care Fall Behind in School
According
to a national assessment, most students in the United States fell behind in
school by between three and six months (Belkin, 2022). Children lost a
significant amount of classroom time during the pandemic. Worldwide, school
closures lasted an average of 224 days over the last two years. Researchers
have taken a look at a study that was done on students in Argentina between
1988 and 2014, which may be able to help us predict some of the long-term
effects of missed class time. Teacher strikes were very common during that
period in Argentina, and students in certain regions missed an average of 88
days during their years in primary-school. Data showed that, as adults, the
students in the regions with the most missed class time had higher rates of
unemployment and earned less money at their jobs than those who did not miss class
time due to teacher strikes (Belkin, 2022).
Approximately
270,000 out of the 400,000 children in foster care are school-aged. Even before
the pandemic, research has shown that foster youth are more likely than their
peers to experience hardships over the course of their education that lead to
worse outcomes. On average, students in foster care earn lower grades and have
lower high school graduation rates (US Dept. of Education, 2016). Foster parents
and social workers need to assess learning-loss in their foster children; how
much learning-loss has accrued and what subject areas is the child most behind
in. With that knowledge, foster parents and social workers can give these
children the tools they need to overcome the setbacks in their education caused
by the pandemic.
Sources:
Abramson, A. (2021,
March). Substance use during the pandemic. American Psychological Association.
Monitor on Psychology, 52(2). http://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/03/substance-use-pandemic
Adams, C. (2020,
December 30). Foster care crisis: More kids are entering, but fewer families
are willing to take them in. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/foster-care-crisis-more-kids-are-entering-fewer-families-are-n1252450
Chatterjee, R. (2021,
February 2). Child Psychiatrists Warn That The Pandemic May Be Driving Up Kids'
Suicide Risk. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/02/02/962060105/child-psychiatrists-warn-that-the-pandemic-may-be-driving-up-kids-suicide-risk
Czeisler, M.É., Lane,
R.I., Petrosky, E., et al. (2020, August 14) Mental Health, Substance Use, and
Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30,
2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 69(32), 1049–1057. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1
Dodge, D. (2021, January
8). Foster Care Was Always Tough. Covid-19 Made It Tougher. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/parenting/foster-care-coronavirus.html
US Department of
Education (ED). (2016, June 27). Students in foster care. Home. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/foster-care/index.html
Yard ,E., Radhakrishnan,
L., Ballesteros, M. F., Sheppard, M., Gates et al. (2021, June 18). Emergency
Department Visits for Suspected Suicide Attempts Among Persons Aged 12–25 Years
Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, January 2019–May 2021.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 70(24), 888–894. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7024e1
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