Policy Spotlight: Children at Risk Ensuring Child Safety During the Pandemic

IGPA Task Force on the Impact of the COVID-19 PandemicThe week that Illinois schools, most childcare centers, and other child-serving agencies closed to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus, calls to the Illinois child abuse and neglect hotline plummeted. Like so many other states over those final months of the 2020 school year, the Illinois child abuse hotline saw a 44% decrease in calls from just a few months earlier in 2020. Child Advocates voiced concerns about this trend, worried that fewer calls did not translate to less abuse and neglect – but rather that fewer professionals, the state’s mandated reporters, were no longer interacting with children in person.Across the nation, children who were once seen regularly by teachers and caretakers were suddenly isolated from those in their lives most likely to recognize signs of abuse and neglect. Teachers play a vital protective role for children, serving as sentinels, vigilant for signs of abuse or neglect. Before the pandemic stopped in-person instruction, teachers were the single largest group to report abuse or neglect.The pandemic forced many at-risk children into the shadows. In ordinary times, the teachers and other adults that children interact with in their daily lives are powerful safeguards against abuse and neglect. Overnight, children were effectively shut off from the state’s eyes and ears. In addition, tragically, many were confined to their homes, the very place of greatest risk for some children.Throughout the Pandemic, advocates attempted to identify people and places where children were still intersecting with community members like grocery workers, members of faith communities, delivery persons, and first responders like fire- fighters and police. Researchers reimagined where and how we could recognize and respond to at risk children, understanding that in the absence of mandated reporters, other community members could step into safeguarding roles.Ultimately, as a community, we must all continue to buttress the safety net we have placed around children.</div

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Eating, feeding, and feeling: emotional responsiveness mediates longitudinal associations between maternal binge eating, feeding practices, and child weight

Unstandardized direct and indirect effects of Wave 1 maternal binge eating (BE) frequency, Wave 1 responses to children’s negative emotion (CCNES), and Wave 2 feeding practices (CFPQ) on child BMI percentile at Wave 2. (DOCX 16 kb

Additional file 1: of Food parenting practices for 5 to 12Â year old children: a concept map analysis of parenting and nutrition experts input

Parsimonious solution of food parenitng practices. (DOCX 356 kb