This has been a difficult year for at risk children and their families. These children and families didn’t have it easy pre COVID.
From April to October 2020, hospitals nationally saw a 24% increase in the proportion of mental health emergency department visits for kids ages 5 to 11, and a 31% increase in the 12- to 17-year-old age group, compared to 2019 according to the CDC. In the last half of 2020, children’s hospitals saw a 17% increase in suicide and self-injury cases (inpatient and emergency) compared to the year before.
- The number of young people in Canada who attempted suicide increased by 100 to 200% during the coronavirus pandemic
- Colorado is Overrun with kids attempting suicide’: Children’s Colorado declares state of emergency
- And that Fort Worth Texas Children’s hospital admitted 43 children in March for suicide attempts.
- Connecticut Children’s emergency department screens all patients age 10 for risk of suicide. On average, in 2020, 15-17% of those screenings were positive. In the current fiscal year, 22-25% of children are screening positive for suicidal ideation.
- Seattle Children’s in Washington reported seeing one or two patients every night in March of this year for attempted suicide while also noting that due to a statewide lack of inpatient beds, some patients were waiting in the emergency department for up to two weeks.
- Dayton Children’s Hospital saw a 23% increase in behavioral health inpatient days from July 2020 through May 2021 compared to the same period in the previous year.
- Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, has seen a 300% increase in the number of behavioral health emergency admissions since April 2020.
- St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, is seeing an explosion in volume and acuity of mental health needs with increased inpatient admissions for serious suicide attempts.
- Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee has experienced an 80% increase in referrals for mental health services in December 2020 compared to December 2019.
Because COVID lockdowns have kept children stuck in toxic homes for long periods without access to teachers or other mandated reporters, there is a coming spike in traumatized children trying to hurt themselves.
The severity of the mental health issues hammering traumatized children suffering from the abuse, neglect and traumas of an entire year of COVID lockdown without respite will become apparent to all of us soon.
We will all be impacted but it will be especially apparent to the teachers, police officers, social workers, foster parents and health workers that see allot of it.
They will suffer their own secondary trauma – and it will change their lives.
Also from the CDC article, “It is now the job of every parent, educator, and caregiver to help mitigate the long-term consequences of the trauma kids are living through. During my many years as a teacher, I saw first-hand how a child’s mental health impacts their ability to learn and grow — not only in the classroom, but in life.”
“The increased demand for intensive mental health care that has accompanied the pandemic has worsened issues that have long plagued the system. In some hospitals, the number of children unable to immediately get a bed in the psychiatric unit rose. Others reduced the number of beds or closed psychiatric units altogether to reduce the spread of covid-19” (Medscape January 7, 2021)
#childabuse
#childhoodtrauma
#kidsatriskaction
#kara
#childsuicide
#childselfharm