Child Welfare in the Time of COVID-19 by Hallie Riggs
The duration and wake of this worldwide pandemic brings uncertainty for all of us – especially for children. History teaches us that during a global crisis, children experience greater suffering. For caregivers, loss of jobs and suspension of wages means stress. Stress means a limited bandwidth for caring for children. So does grief. When caregivers are stressed, grieving, and don’t have access to the support and tools they need, we see an increase in child abuse. We also see an increase in substance use. And in domestic violence.
Many children depend upon their school environment for basic needs like safety, nutrition, and connection. The closing of schools incites food insecurity. It also often results in an absence of adequate supervision. As a child therapist, I have asked many children over the years who their “safe person” is. In other words, who do they feel they can turn to when they have a problem? Countless times, kids and teenagers have told me, without hesitation, that it’s their favorite teacher. The school nurse. Their guidance counselor. Their best friend, who they sit with every day at lunch. In light of school closings, social distancing, and mandatory quarantine, these protective relationships are absent, leaving many kids vulnerable and without the support they need to navigate an increasingly unpredictable day-to-day reality.
Foster parenting is, for all intents and purposes, a volunteer job. While foster parents receive a stipend for things like clothing and daycare, many of the day-to-day expenses of parenting typically fall on them. With so many adults unable to work - or struggling to balance caregiving and work as a first responder, child welfare providers are anticipating disruptions in foster placements. This means children being moved from the homes that have become familiar to them, enduring more trauma.
Older youth in foster care are particularly vulnerable right now. The transition into independent living is challenging in and of itself. It is estimated that over 23,000 youth age out of the foster care system in America every year. By the age of 18, 20% of youth transitioning from foster care will immediately experience homelessness. 1 Programs that provide assistance like housing stipends and other benefits to help youth transition safely and well to independent living often require participation in employment or educational pursuits. Such opportunities have been threatened or no longer exist as a result of these unprecedented times. Unemployment and school closings threaten necessary programs for youth aging out of foster care.
An Exacerbated Crisis for Native American Children and Families
The current realities of the pandemic pervade all aspects of child welfare, including family visitation, court proceedings, therapy, healing practices, and reunification of families. Therapy is virtual. Hearings are postponed. Social service programs are struggling to keep their staff safe and their doors open. Already marginalized and vulnerable families will be most impacted by the chronic trauma that reverberates from Covid-19, and Native American youth in foster care and their families are particularly vulnerable.
There has been and continues to be a disproportionate representation of American Indian children in foster care. The systematic genocide of Native tribes in what is now the United States includes a well-documented history of the forced separation of Native children from their families, as well as their captivity and abuse in boarding schools. The forced adoption of Native children during the late 1950’s through 1967 was carried out by the federal government through the Indian Adoption Project. 2 The traumas endured by generations of Native people through efforts of forced assimilation are immeasurable. Historical trauma perpetrated by atrocities such as boarding schools and forced adoptions is a haunting thread that sews one generation to the next.
Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, member of the Hunkpapa/Oglala Lakota Tribes, social worker, associate professor, and mental health expert, first defined historical trauma experienced by the Lakota people as “collective emotional and psychological injury both over the lifespan and across generations, resulting from a cataclysmic history of genocide.” The impact of the historical and present- day trauma that has been inflicted upon Native Americans manifests itself as unresolved emotional trauma, depression, high mortality rates, high rates of alcohol misuse, significant problems of child abuse and domestic violence. 3 Today, addiction, violence, child maltreatment, mental health issues and chronic illnesses are the symptoms of unresolved trauma and grief that we see. What is most important, what we don’t see, requires healing through a safe family structure with kin and community, and access to therapeutic resources for children and families that are rooted in cultural teachings and values.
It is crucial that we differentiate the reasons why Native children have traditionally been removed from their families of origin. On the one hand, there are failures on the part of the dominant culture to regard traditional Native practices of child rearing and to acknowledge resource limitations perpetuated by systems of power. On the other hand, there are incidents in which adults, who undoubtedly love their children, are also unable to safely care for them. Parents can love their children and also hurt them. Often, we repeat what is not repaired.
In response to a congressional investigation that concluded that American Indian children residing in the US had been unjustly removed from their homes, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 sought to create standards within the child welfare system that would ensure the prioritization of Indigenous children in foster care being placed with Native foster parents. While this determination was vital and long overdue in order to support the preservation of Native culture and the survival of tribes, ICWA promised on paper what society has been unable to deliver in practice. This is largely because of the absence of an infrastructure that supports and empowers Native American caregivers to raise their communities’ most vulnerable members—Indigenous children.
A New, Native-Centered Approach
On the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, the Simply Smiles Children’s Village will be a step in the direction of ensuring that ICWA is upheld and that Native American children remain with their kin and on land that is theirs. The Children’s Village is a first-of-its-kind community of Native foster caregivers, living side by side and supporting one another as they help to raise the next generation of Lakota leaders. Mental health care, Elder support, teachings, language, and ceremony are omnipresent at the Children’s Village. Children are safe to trust, build relationships, and explore their cultural identity.
At the Simply Smiles Children’s Village, Native foster parents provide safety, predictability, and love at a time when children need it most. With the first of six village homes built, and with the support of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the state of South Dakota, Simply Smiles is looking for Native adults interested in learning more about becoming foster parents and living at the Children’s Village. In spite of this pandemic, and especially because of it, it is crucial that the work of the Simply Smiles Children’s Village continues.
To those who have always contemplated becoming a foster parent, and to those who may be considering such a commitment for the first time–you’re needed now more than ever. We need Native adults who are willing to dedicate their love, time, and energy to the next generation. Please consider joining our initiative. We can think of no better way to spend our minutes together on this earth, than by securing bright futures for our children.
By Hallie Riggs. Hallie is the Clinical Director of the Simply Smiles Children's Village on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation
*Cover photo from Simply Smiles webpage
Notes
1 https://www.nfyi.org/51-useful-aging-out-of-foster-care-statistics-social-race-media/
2 https://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/topics/IAP.html
3 Chavez, Nora. NM Cares Health Disparities Center. Shouldering Grief: Validating Native American Historical Trauma. https://hsc.unm.edu/programs/nmcareshd/docs/story_heart.pdf