What the COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals about Racial Differences in Child Welfare and Child Well-Being: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

This paper introduces the special issue on race, child welfare, and child well-being. In doing so, I summarize the evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent findings demonstrate that, compared to white children, black and Latino children are more likely to have experienced poverty and food insufficiency, to have had parents lose their jobs, and to be exposed to distance learning and school closures during the pandemic. I argue that though COVID-19 has indeed worsened racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being, it has also served to place a spotlight on the American welfare state’s historical mistreatment of low-income families and black and Latino families in particular. Consider that around three-fourths of black and Latino children facing food insufficiency during the pandemic also experienced food insufficiency prior to the onset of the pandemic. Moving forward, analyses of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being during the pandemic, I argue, must not only consider the economic shock and high unemployment rates of 2020, but the failure of the American welfare state to adequately support jobless parents, and black and Latino parents in particular, long before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

The Influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Including the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Toxic Stress on Development and Health Outcomes of Latinx Children in the USA: a Review of the Literature

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated ACEs, which is demonstrated through Table 1's depiction of the 10 ACEs and how they have changed in frequency, intensity, and manifestation throughout the duration of the pandemic (Table 1) (APA, 2020;Bryant et al, 2020;Chowdhury, 2020;Lawson et al, 2020;Panchal et al, 2020;Parolin, 2021;Raviv et al, 2021;Taub, 2020;Tener et al, 2020;Zaami et al, 2020).…”

“…These disparities are more deeply rooted in structural inequities like residential segregation, food insecurity, and poor environmental health as a result of decades of discriminatory policies and marginalization (National Scientific Council of the Developing Child, 2020). For example, 75% of black and Latinx children who experienced food insecurity throughout the pandemic had already felt its effects prior to the pandemic's onset (Parolin, 2021).…”

“…During the pandemic, Latinx youth have been disproportionately exposed to caregiver's illness, death, and worsening mental health, as well as more household dysfunction resulting from stay-at-home orders and social isolation (Raviv et al, 2021). Statistics have shown that Latinx individuals were more likely to die of COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, leaving Latinx children at higher risk for neglect (Parolin, 2021). Throughout the pandemic, Latinx children were more likely to experience poverty, food insufficiency, parental job loss, and school closures, thus experiencing higher risk for abuse, household dysfunction, and neglect (Parolin, 2021).…”

“…Statistics have shown that Latinx individuals were more likely to die of COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, leaving Latinx children at higher risk for neglect (Parolin, 2021). Throughout the pandemic, Latinx children were more likely to experience poverty, food insufficiency, parental job loss, and school closures, thus experiencing higher risk for abuse, household dysfunction, and neglect (Parolin, 2021). Undocumented immigrants were unable to receive government relief stimulus checks throughout the pandemic, further worsening the economic disparity (Parolin, 2021).…”

“…This study includes a portrayal of the COVID-19 pandemic as an additional ACE by identifying in the literature the mechanisms through which the pandemic has impacted the health and well-being of Latinx populations in the USA, particularly by exacerbating preexisting health and other related inequities in this population (Parolin, 2021;Raviv et al, 2021). Latinx communities have faced disproportionate impacts in regarding infection rates, access to care, economic hardship, unemployment, and deaths (Branson-Potts et al, 2020;Capps & Fix, 2020;Cooper & Hanlon, 2020;Gelatt et al, 2020;Passel & D'Vera, 2011).…”