Urgently revive children’s support services

16 June 2020 | Story Helen Swingler. Photo Flickr. Read time 8 min.
The long-term effects of deprivation on children has lifelong consequences – for them and society.
The long-term effects of deprivation on children has lifelong consequences – for them and society.

Providing nurturing, supportive relationships in safe spaces will go a long way in enabling young children’s development and fostering resilience in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, said Lizette Berry, a researcher at the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Berry was speaking in the wake of National Child Protection Week, which ended on 7 June.

This year’s theme, “Let us all protect children during COVID-19 and beyond”, is a reminder of the challenges affecting the country’s youngest, most vulnerable and most invisible citizens, particularly during lockdown.

Part of that care and support includes early childhood development centres – these should be “urgently revived” at community level at this stage of the pandemic. Social workers and other social service practitioners must be made available, especially to address parental mental health risks and stressors prevalent in families experiencing ongoing and multiple adversities.

Meaningful and holistic support to families is essential in times of crises, said Berry.

She said that after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the national lockdown from 27 March, all early childhood development centres and learning programmes were shut down, along with the rest of the country. All forms of social and support services to children and families were also suspended.

“This saw millions of young children being ‘locked down’ with their parents or primary caregivers, many of whom were faced with escalating financial challenges, job insecurity and food shortages.

 

“For many, the focus was on survival and ensuring that all family members had a meal each day.”

“The responsibility for caregiving was placed on primary caregivers, mostly women who did not necessarily have the resources or capacity for full-time care and supporting young children’s learning. For many, the focus was on survival and ensuring that all family members had a meal each day.”

Support for survival

Berry said that early childhood development organisations quickly recognised the need to support families with basic information and resources to care for and stimulate children while at home.

“While resources were adapted and delivered for free via mobile phone technology, anecdotal evidence suggests that take-up was low and the technology platforms problematic, particularly among impoverished, rural families.

“In addition to the emphasis on resuming economic activities, families with young children need access to social services, including cash transfer programmes, resources for early learning, health and nutrition support and prevention of food insecurity.”

The reality of the prolonged stress on families and communities also manifests in its children, with serious long-term consequences. The age group from nought to six and those in the foundation phases of schooling are the most vulnerable.

“In times of crisis, it is normal for children to feel fear, anxiety or low mood – these feelings should be acknowledged and children assisted to express their feelings in appropriate and playful ways,” Berry added.

But the long-term effects of deprivation on children creates toxic stress and lifelong problems.

Toxic stress

Parents and caregivers are urged to watch for signs of emotional distress in young children following the lockdown. This may reflect in unusual behaviours – a gregarious child becoming withdrawn or children showing learning problems, delays or regressions in their development.

“Stress becomes toxic when the activation of the stress response system is prolonged or excessive,” Berry added. “So, the frequent, severe or continuous experience of an adversity, such as domestic violence, maltreatment or chronic neglect, can lead to toxic stress.”

In our context, the accumulation of adversity is a grave cause for concern, as large numbers of children experience multiple adversities at the same time.

 

“Stress becomes toxic when the activation of the stress response system is prolonged or excessive.”

In a recent communique, the Children’s Institute said that evidence from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University shows that extreme poverty, malnutrition, violence and neglect can, in the absence of care and protection, precipitate toxic stress. This can cause lasting damage to the developing brain and can lead to aggressive and antisocial behaviour.

It states: “Early exposure to adversity drives an intergenerational cycle of poverty, malnutrition, violence and ill health. For example, children who are abused or who witness violence at home are at increased risk of youth violence and of both suffering and perpetrating intimate partner violence in adulthood.”

A primary factor is the absence of a protective adult relationship to cushion the impact of the stressors on the child.

“While children also need to develop healthy stress response systems, supportive relationships, present as early as possible in young children’s lives, are critical to buffer the negative effects of stressors, which also enables the building of trust in others and lays the foundation for the development of future relationships,” Berry added.

Statistics are hard to come by, particularly those focused on children’s issues during the pandemic.

“This alone is an indicator of how young children have been mostly invisible during the COVID-19 crisis, confined to their family homes,” Berry said. “The assumed increase of gender-based and family violence under lockdown is particularly worrying, as young children may have been exposed to increased violence in their homes, likely to have negative effects on their emotional health and sense of security.”

 

“Younger children are at increased risk of abuse and neglect.”

Berry added that data released by Childline South Africa showed that their helpline service received nearly double the number of calls during April 2020 when compared with April 2019. The top three categories of calls received during Level 5 lockdown were requests for information about support services such as social grants and food parcels (23%), concerns about physical health (21%), and child abuse (17%).

“While these figures and the increase in calls probably reflect the immediate concerns and violations of older children trying to make sense of the hard lockdown, we know that younger children are at increased risk of abuse and neglect and are more vulnerable to the negative effects of poverty and deprivation.”

Access to support

Parents and caregivers should look for signs of emotional distress. Usually these are demonstrated in behaviours that are not typical for the child, for example, an outgoing child may become more withdrawn,” said Berry. “Young children may act out and display violent or challenging behaviours.”

Building resilience in families is essential. Parents and caregivers should reach out for support should they need assistance during this unprecedented crisis.

“One hopes that the intensity of the hardship experienced by the most under-resourced communities, as a result of hard lockdown, will be relatively short lived. While we will experience the effects of COVID-19 and the resultant measures to curb it well into the future, I am hopeful that families and the children that they support, will develop enough resilience to withstand the shocks of the current crisis.

“If robust support measures are put in place rapidly and responsively, families and community structures may have the opportunity to recover and rebuild its resources.”

Further resources for parents are available from:

  • The Parent Centre: 021 762 0116
  • Childline SA: 0800 055 555
  • FAMSA: 011 975 7106/7
  • Government services such as local clinics and social development offices can assist with support and referrals
  • Community-based health and social services.

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UCT’s response to COVID-19

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March 2020 and to implement a national lockdown from 26 March 2020. UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.

Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has in June 2022 repealed some of South Africa’s remaining COVID-19 regulations: namely, sections 16A, 16B and 16C of the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions under the National Health Act. We are now no longer required to wear masks or limit gatherings. Venue restrictions and checks for travellers coming into South Africa have now also been removed.

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

 

Campus communications

 
2022

Adjusting to our new environment 16:50, 23 June 2022
VC Open Lecture and other updates 17:04, 13 April 2022
Feedback from UCT Council meeting of 12 March 2022 09:45, 18 March 2022
UCT Council
March 2022 graduation celebration 16:45, 8 March 2022
Report on the meeting of UCT Council of 21 February 2022 19:30, 21 February 2022
UCT Council
COVID-19 management 2022 11:55, 14 February 2022
Return to campus arrangements 2022 11:15, 4 February 2022

UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre

On Wednesday, 20 July, staff from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences came together with representatives from the Western Cape Government at the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at Forest Hill Residence to acknowledge the centre’s significance in the fight against COVID-19 and to thank its staff for their contributions. The centre opened on 1 September 2021 with the aim of providing quality vaccination services to UCT staff, students and the nearby communities, as well as to create an opportunity for medical students from the Faculty of Health Sciences to gain practical public health skills. The vaccination centre ceased operations on Friday, 29 July 2022.

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.

 

“After almost a year of operation, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, located at the Forest Hill residence complex in Mowbray, will close on Friday, 29 July 2022. I am extremely grateful and proud of all staff, students and everyone involved in this important project.”
– Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.


Thank You UCT Community

Frequently asked questions

 

Global Citizen Asks: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe & Effective?

UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) collaborated with Global Citizen, speaking to trusted experts to dispel vaccine misinformation.



If you have further questions about the COVID-19 vaccine check out the FAQ produced by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF). The DTHF has developed a dedicated chat function where you can ask your vaccine-related questions on the bottom right hand corner of the website.

IDM YouTube channel | IDM website
 

 

“As a contact university, we look forward to readjusting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2023 as the COVID-19 regulations have been repealed.”
– Prof Harsha Kathard, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.

 

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