A Cause Beyond One's Self

While it’s been a busy couple of weeks, it’s also been an important couple of weeks.  We have been diligent at trying to make contacts with all students, both virtual and hybrid on their “remote learning” days.  We are reminded that while we put a high priority on instructional leadership and student learning, we also serve “A Cause Beyond One’s Self” in making sure that all students are “okay” and safe.  The pandemic has been stressful for everyone and we know that stress affects human behavior in ways that a non-stressful situation wouldn't.  We also know that everyone has a different capacity for handling stress and different coping mechanisms.  We’ve seen child abuse numbers plummet during the pandemic, but we know child abuse or maltreatment has not ceased.  Unfortunately, this decrease is most likely a function of reporting without schools being able to “watch out for” our students total safety and well-being on the same level as we normally would with the contact time reduction with students. 

 

Some statistics about the pandemic and it’s impact on families and children that are alarming.  Unemployment rates in the United States accelerated from 3.5% (5.7 million individuals) in the months preceding the pandemic to 4.4% (7.1 million), 14.7% (23.1 million), and 13.1% (21.0 million) in March, April, and May, respectively (Department of Labor, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c). The April 2020 unemployment rate represents the largest 1-month increase and highest rate of unemployment in the United States since 1948, when official records were first maintained (Department of Labor, 2020a).  In 2018, approximately 3.5 million children were involved in child maltreatment investigations in the United States, with nearly 700,000 children determined to be substantiated victims of maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020). As the majority of maltreated children are victimized by a parent (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020), child maltreatment represents a pathological relationship occurring within the family that significantly deviates from expected and accepted child rearing standards (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005).  The numbers since March 2020 have drastically dropped from previous years. 

 

What does history tell us about child abuse and maltreatment during times of crisis in our county?  Although not equivalent with the COVID-19 global pandemic, indicators of poor economic health during prior economic crises such as the Great Depression (Elder, Nguyen, & Caspi, 1985) and the Great Recession have been associated with increased child abuse (Schneider, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn, 2017; Brooks-Gunn, Schneider, & Waldfogel, 2013; Schenck-Fontaine & Gassman-Pines, 2020; Schenck-Fontaine, Gassman-Pines, Gibson-Davis, & Ananat, 2017), but this association can be complex (Millett, Lanier, & Drake, 2011). These historical data support concerns of increased child abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Associations between unemployment and increased child abuse have been reported even when the national economy is relatively healthy. In a recent systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies, Conrad-Hiebner and Byram (2020) identified parental job loss as a primary factor contributing to future psychological maltreatment and physical abuse. Prenatal unemployment has additionally been linked with later child welfare involvement during the elementary school years (Baldwin, Biehal, Allgar, Cusworth, & Pickett, 2020). In a 2010 report to the U.S. Congress based on the Fourth National Incident Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, children of unemployed parents were reported to be twice as likely to experience abuse compared with children of employed parents (Sedlak et al., 2010).

 

In times like these, the well-being of children is paramount, critical, and should be a calling or passion for anyone in the educational field.  Child maltreatment is a significant public health concern associated with impairments in psychological, behavioral, and physiological functioning across the lifespan.  Every single adult employee that works in a school, in any capacity, should be dedicated to the well-being of our children.  If we are ever going to err, it should be on the side of helping students.  In every decision we make, it should be based on what’s best for students.  Without students, you wouldn’t need principals, teachers, support staff, coaches, etc.  In everything we do in education, there’s a calling and “A Cause Beyond One’s Self” that we are responsible for and privileged to be able to make.