How are children and parents doing during the pandemic?

The University of Oregon has been using nationwide surveys – the Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development-Early Childhood or RAPID-EC — to ask families.

The goal is to “collect essential information from households and families with young children and to provide actionable data to key stakeholders to inform immediate and long-term policy decisions.”

Recent survey results – shared at an Alliance for Early Success webinar — highlight five topics:

• parent emotional well-being (stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness)

• child emotional well-being (fussiness and feeling upset, fearful, or anxious)

• economic situation/ability to pay for basic needs, including food, housing, and utilities

• child care challenges, including availability, perceptions of safety, barriers to access, preference for type of care, role of childcare provider, and

• pediatric healthcare: well-baby/well child visit adherence, routine vaccinations, barriers to access, plans for COVID vaccination

These challenges have a ripple effect, as this slide explains:

Hunger has been a significant challenge.

The survey also confirms impacts that have been reported in the news, “COVID-19 is widening inequality gaps based on income and race/ethnicity.” An estimated 60% of “Black, Latinx, and single parent households report difficulty paying for rent, utilities, and/or food.”

These and other issues are explored in depth in a series of posts on Medium. Although they were published last year, the issues – among them hunger, children with special needs, and the pressures single parents face – remain pressingly relevant.

Based on these survey results, the RAPID-EC research team has made key policy recommendations:

• continue to provide financial support to families

• address racial inequalities

• support a range of child care options, and

• recognize that child care, family support, and income supports are not a zero sum game

Other reflections based on the survey result include listening to families and providers, employing rapid cycle research methods as conditions change, making data more accessible, and building community capacity.

Taking action is essential. As parents who responded to the survey explain:

“The cost of food is insane.”

“We need to know there is help if/when someone gets sick, not getting paid is not an option for a COVID policy and I had to endure that and it’s a huge burden when it’s the primary earner!!”

“Parents shouldn’t have to decide between their kids’ safety and having enough money to put food on the table. If we knew we were supported financially people would be making less riskier choices around sending their kids back to school.”

Click here to register and view a recording of the Alliance webinar. And of course, be sure to use the RAPID-EC family survey findings in your advocacy.