“By investing in children and families who are the most in need, we can shift the developmental trajectory of children who have been most negatively affected by the pandemic to one that allows them to reach their full potential,” Viewpoint authors write in reaction to recommendations of a consensus report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). The report reviews the impact of the “worst pandemic in US history” on “the health and well-being of children and families thus far, and what needs to be done to attenuate longer-term negative effects.”
The authors explain that “the NASEM committee for this report was intentionally designed to address areas most relevant to children and families (education, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, economic well-being), and to focus on the groups who bore the brunt of the pandemic: those from racial and ethnic minoritized groups and low-income families.
“In its multidisciplinary review of the literature, the committee found that across almost every outcome of well-being—education, social, emotional, physical, mental, and economic—low-income children and families in racially and ethnically minoritized communities have experienced a disproportionately high burden from the pandemic, which is rooted in structural racism, creating long-standing and pervasive inequities.”
The recommendations in the report cover prioritization of children and families; addressing social, emotional, and educational needs; addressing physical and mental health needs; addressing economic needs; and supporting future research and data needs.