The World Health Organization has identified that the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming a global emergency and, for the most part, the world is beginning to move forward. Schools have resumed, most countries have eased restrictions, and many physical care providers have stopped wearing masks. Requirements
As positive as those advances are, the nightmare is still in its infancy for the estimated 300,000 young people in the United States whose number one parent or caregiver died from COVID-19.
Regardless of the cause, a parent’s death in the formative years increases the threat of depression, anxiety, school failure, and substance abuse in adolescence and adulthood, among other negative outcomes, which are magnified when their grief is not treated or addressed. She said, dealing with the loss of a parent to COVID-19 can be challenging due to social norms, pandemic-related restrictions, and political polarization.
We know that COVID-19 has replaced the school, social and intellectual life of all young people. In fact, in 2021, the U. S. surgeon general was in charge of the U. S. U. S. Vivek Murthy issued a 42-page ad, “Protecting Youth Mental Health,” drawing attention to the urgency of demanding public fitness situations our youth are facing lately due to the global pandemic.
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More than a million people have died from the pandemic in the United States, and COVID-19 deaths continue to reach 1600 in one week. We know that COVID-19 deaths are disproportionately communities of color, as well as those in rural and low-income communities.
In addition to dealing with the death of a loved one, many families have been unable to please their dying loved one or hold a memorial service to honor their loved ones. For families already suffering from financial problems, food or housing insecurity, or pre-existing emotional health issues, the devastation of a parent’s death is even more rapid and profound.
Children and families whose parents have died from COVID-19 revel in social stigma motivated by political polarization over the reasons and restrictions for the pandemic, and have had to answer intrusive questions or statements: Have they been vaccinated?Existing conditions? You know COVID-19 wasn’t real, right?
While the world has moved away from the pandemic, social isolation is still felt in young people whose grief has been marginalized.
He now turns, who is helping those children?To date, there is no federal policy and this wants to change.
Meanwhile, Dougy Center, members of the National Alliance for Child Bereavement, and other nonprofits are offering specialized facilities that feature peer groups, counseling, and camps for young people orphaned by COVID-19, as well as those whose parents have died. of accidents, illnesses, suicides and homicides.
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Services come with the “After a COVID-19 Death” online toolkit, which includes 40 resources available in English and Spanish. charitable grants and emotional support facilities for the families of frontline physical care workers, volunteers, and aid workers whose lives have been lost in the fight against COVID-19.
The Dougy Center was founded in 1982 and has become the first peer program for youth and their families. In addition to its in-person and online resources, the Dougy Center’s style has been replicated more than 500 times in organizations around the world.
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Resources will be available for children, youth and their families who have lost a parent or family member to COVID-19; However, more assistance will be needed as these young people adjust to the changes in their parents’ deaths. tax.
We will have to continue with them: their long term, and ours, depends on it.
Donna L. Schuurman is senior director of advocacy and education at the Dougy Center and served as executive director of the Dougy Center from 1991 to 2015. She is the one from “Never the Same: Coming to terms with the death of a parent. “
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