National Academy of Medicine Report on Long-Term Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Families

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Abstract

The far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic—coupled with co-occurring events and historic inequities rooted in structural racism—are expected to have lasting adverse effects on children’s physical, mental, and socio-emotional development. The Committee on Addressing the Long-Term Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Families will release its report in early 2023. This study addresses the consequences of and solutions to the long-term effects of COVID-19 on children living in marginalized communities. COVID-19 has caused unprecedented impacts on the lives of children and families as a result of illness and death; public health safety measures, including school closures; social isolation; financial hardship; food insecurity; disrupted sleep; and gaps in health care access. Co-occurring with the pandemic has been racial trauma, including violence against communities of color; protests against that violence; and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Latino, and Native American families. The committee conducted an extensive critical review of the existing research literature, held information-gathering sessions with key stakeholders (including parents, K-12 educators, health care professionals, early care and education professionals, adolescents, and juvenile justice and child welfare professionals), and commissioned papers on impacts on the workforce, housing sector, and student loan repayment on families. This session will include a conversation with committee members from an array of disciplines and institutions about impacts of the pandemic on children and families across domains, programs and economic and social policies needed to promote recovery, and the report recommendations.
Session Moderator: Velma McBride Murry, Ph.D.
Panelists: Selected committee members

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Moderator

• Velma McBride Murry, Vanderbilt University

Panelists

• Tumaini Coker

• Michelle Sarche, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

• Tina Cheng, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute