November 14, 2024 - "Russia continues its ultra-conservative shift. Two days ago the Duma unanimously passed a bill banning the dissemination of neutral or positive information about being childfree on the Internet, in the media, films, and advertisements. This law still needs to be approved by the upper house before being sent to President Vladimir Putin for final approval. It includes significant financial penalties, which can reach up to 400,000 rubles for individuals (around $4,200) and 5 million rubles for companies (nearly $50,000). There is also the risk of administrative arrest and deportation for non-Russian citizens.
"This law is part of the ongoing ultra-conservative turn that Russia has taken in recent years.... In 2020, Russian authorities made significant revisions to the Constitution, notably adding Article 67, which states that "children are the most important priority of Russian state policy." Similarly, in November 2022, President Putin signed a decree titled 'Foundations of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values.' The decree asserts, among other things, that the country’s demographic situation is threatened by the 'destructive ideological influence' exerted on Russian citizens, propagated by 'the United States of America and other unfriendly foreign states'....
"The year 2024 has been declared in Russia as the 'Year of the Family'... Divorce fees have been increased eightfold, laws have been passed prohibiting 'incitement to abortion' and .. private clinics in certain regions are now refusing to perform voluntary abortions.
"The newly passed law bans the dissemination of information about the 'childfree' movement (a term used for people who consciously choose not to have children, whether for personal, economic, or environmental reasons).... Once the law comes into effect, Russian citizens will no longer be allowed to say or write anything that promotes a 'positive image of childlessness and the conscious choice not to have children, unless this choice is related to medical contraindications.'
"This legislation ... adds to a series of repressive laws aimed at restricting freedom of expression, reinforcing an environment of censorship where any opposition to the state’s pronatalist directives is gradually being criminalised, similar to the law passed on 24 November 2022, which completely bans "LGBT propaganda" and expands the 2013 ban on the dissemination of information to minors.
"FIDH is monitoring and expressing concern over this new attack on women’s rights, which is part of a global trend of regression and the rise of reactionary ideologies."
Statistics Canada figures show that the percentage of Canadian children living in poverty has increased from 2020 to 2022 (the latest year for which statistics are available).
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reading to children in 2019.
November 19, 2024 "Child poverty is rising swiftly in Canada ... says a new report from Campaign 2000. The anti-poverty group's annual report card on child and family poverty in Canada found that there are now 1.4 million children living in poverty across the country, with another 360,000 children falling into poverty over the last two years....
"Campaign 2000 has been issuing its annual report card on poverty since 1991. This year's report looks at the change from 2021 to 2022 and concludes that during that time, 'child poverty increased in every province and territory.'
"'The sharp increase in national child poverty rates from 2020 to 2021 was the first in 10 years and appears to signal a reversal in the downward trend that began in 2015,' the report said. 'Most alarming was the 2.5 percentage point jump from 2021 to 2022, the largest annual increase in child poverty [since 2000]. Federal strategies for poverty reduction are failing children, families and all of society....'
"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government introduced the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) in its first budget. The CCB, which restructured several payments and tax credits into one benefit, came with a promise that nine out of 10 families would be better off....
"According to the Statistics Canada data used by Campaign 2000, 20.9 per cent of children under the age of 18 were living in poverty in Canada when the Liberals came to power. Over the next five years, that percentage gradually reduced — first to 19.6 per cent in 2016, then to 18.6 per cent in 2017.... The child poverty rate then dropped significantly to 13.5 per cent in 2020, when the federal government rolled out its pandemic support program.
"But since pandemic benefits stopped flowing and inflation started rising, poverty among children and families has been on the rise, first to 15.6 per cent in 2021 and then to 18.1 per cent in 2022.... While that rate is still almost three percentage points lower than it was when the Liberals came to power, Campaign 2000 is concerned that the rate is now trending upward again.
"The anti-poverty group's report card found that in nine of 13 provinces and territories, the number of children under the age of 18 living in poverty was higher than the national average of 18.1 per cent. The percentage was lower than that average in Quebec, B.C., P.E.I. and Yukon....
"Nunavut had the highest child poverty rate in the country at 41.8 per cent, followed closely by Manitoba at 27.1 per cent and Saskatchewan at 26.7 per cent. Yukon and Quebec had the lowest child poverty rates in the country at 12 per cent each, followed by B.C. at 16.7 per cent and P.E.I. at 16.8 per cent."
This Monday, hundreds of schools across North America are closing ostensibly to protect children from sustaining lifelong injuries by looking at the sun during the solar eclipse..
April 5, 2024 - "On Monday, April 8, hundreds of schools across North America, from Texas to Ontario, are closing in order to protect pupils from sustaining lifelong injuries — from the sun. Just after 11 a.m. local time, a complete solar eclipse will begin over the Pacific coast of Mexico. Its “path of totality”—the areas where the sun will be entirely blotted out—will pass through 13 U.S. states, before ending off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. In these regions, schools face a dilemma: Is the eclipse a learning opportunity for kids—or a threat?
“'The solar eclipse offers a rare educational occasion,' Natalie Jameson, an educator in Canada’s Prince Edward Island, admitted last month. 'But prioritizing safety is crucial.' And so, classes in her district will end two hours early to ensure 'students will be home safely' before the start of the eclipse. The decision, her department added, was made 'out of an abundance of caution.' The same decision was made by Ontario’s Waterloo District, even though it initially opted to remain open.... But after the elementary teachers’ union criticized the decision, with its president arguing 'it’s naive to assume students won’t look directly at the sun,' the school board announced it would cancel class after all.
"Educators in America, meanwhile, are singing from the same hymn sheet. 'You obviously cannot look at the sun when this is happening,' a rep for Perry Township Schools in Indianapolis told local news. Instead, she told me, the school district is 'having an e-learning day due to safety reasons.... A superintendent in upstate New York echoed these reasons when he explained why classes in the Schoharie Central School District would be canceled on Monday: 'It really is out of an abundance of caution.'
"Abundance of caution. You hear this phrase a lot in our era of absurd safetyism, which is reshaping modern childhood. An abundance of caution is the reason kids no longer spend time alone or play outside, depriving them of some of life’s most fulfilling experiences. To be clear: when you look at an eclipse, your instinct to squint may not kick in — which can damage your eyes — but cases of blindness are vanishingly rare, and there are simple precautions that can be taken....
"Many of the scientists also believe the eclipse should be treated as a learning opportunity for kids. Ilana Macdonald, an astrophysicist at Ontario’s Eclipse Task Force, said the event is a way 'to incite wonder and amazement about the world. And yet they’re focusing more on the negatives and the dangerous aspects of it,' she said of schools that are closing.... Michael Kirk, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, agrees, calling the eclipse 'a once in a lifetime experience.' 'You will tell your grandchildren about this. You will remember it for the rest of your life,' he said, noting that the next total eclipse visible in America won’t happen until 2044....
"I spoke to Lola McAdam, 13, whose Ottawa school district has opted to close on April 8 to 'ensure safety' for students. 'I probably would rather have been with my friends,' she told me. 'It would have been cooler than being stuck at home.' Suzanne Hancock, Lola’s mother, said she still has fond memories of the total solar eclipse in 1979, when she was 7 years old. Her school remained open, and the students made pinhole projectors together so they could safely watch the event. Suzanne wishes her daughter had a similar opportunity.... 'That experience and adventure has been robbed from today’s students just like during the Covid-19 pandemic,' she concluded....
"Lenore Skenazy, founder of the Free-Range Kids project — which promotes 'a commonsense approach to parenting in these overprotective times' — says there are many examples of silly safetyism in schools.... 'We have a culture that sees childhood through the lens of risk and danger,' Skenazy said. And it’s not just schools. Up until 2011, an eight-year-old could travel unaccompanied on Amtrak—and then the minimum age was raised to 13. The reason for the change? An Amtrak spokesperson cited an 'abundance of concern.'
"Skenazy said she dislikes these empty words. 'An "abundance of caution" turns out to be excess caution,' she said. And if we stop kids from taking solo train rides, or bringing old plates to school, or collectively experiencing a spectacular, celestial event, Skenazy believes we are effectively giving them something much worse: 'An abundance of distrust.'”
After a year's experience with the Liberal govrenment's national childcare program, many Canadian providers are warning that it could drive them out of business.
January 29, 2024 - "Operators in multiple provinces are threatening to pull out of the national child-care system or even close their doors. They say the federal-provincial agreements limit the fees they can charge while not providing enough support to cover all their costs.
"'It's been underfunded from the beginning,' said Krystal Churcher, the chair of the Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs. Churcher said Alberta operators are planning to start a series of 'rolling closures' on Tuesday to draw attention to the problems that come with offering parents low-cost child care without ensuring the cost of delivery is still covered. 'You can't even buy coffee and a muffin for $10 a day,' said Churcher....
"A national, affordable daycare program has long been a Liberal promise, but it never got beyond the promise stage until 2021. That year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's budget included a $30-billion, five-year offer to provinces and territories that signed agreements to deliver child care that would first cut fees in half, then cut them to $10 a day by 2025-26.... Every province and territory eventually signed on.... In exchange for the federal money, provinces had to implement the federal vision, which while cutting fees also sought to increase wages for child-care workers. In every province and territory, operators have now had more than a full year of experience with the program in place. They say they're finding the funds coming in aren't enough to cover costs.
"The YMCA is asking Ontario for more money for its child-care programs, which account for one in five licensed spots across that province. 'Unfortunately, while cost savings are being offered to families, the cost burden on operators like the YMCA has grown,' the charity said in a pre-budget submission to the Ontario government. 'This is because the current approach to revenue replacement funding is insufficient, leaving many non-profit operators with deficits and uncertain outlooks as we negotiate with each municipality for pressure funding'....
"A spokesperson for Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce told The Canadian Press earlier this month that the province would be seeking additional funds from Ottawa. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not open the door to agreeing to that when asked about it Monday. 'We put a huge amount of money on the table in the 2021 budget for early learning and child care,' Freeland said....
"But Churcher said the program was rolled out too quickly, with high demands and not enough understanding of the impact. She said her centre's fees were frozen when she signed on to the program, and it's those fees that now form the basis for provincial funding. Daycare providers in Alberta can charge parents a limited amount — an average of $15 a day at this point — and the province then pays them the difference, but only up to where fees were frozen.
"Funding for the program increases three per cent a year in Alberta. Churcher said that is just not enough, given the added costs of inflation on food and utilities. She said there are also thousands of dollars in costs to have their finances audited each year to meet the requirements of the program.
"At the Liberals' cabinet retreat in Montreal last week, [Families Minister Jenna] Sudds went even further than Freeland in emphasizing the responsibility that provinces bear. 'The provinces and territories entered into these agreements eyes wide open and knowing what the expectations were, knowing how many spaces we expected to be created and what dollars were on the table for them to work with,' she said."
The Ontario Provincial Police have issued an advisory over a convicted child trafficker living at a children's center near Barrie. The man, who says he ran an escort service which hired a minor who used fraudulent ID, called the advisory "ridiculous".
July 17, 2023 - "A man previously convicted of human trafficking of children is living at an Ontario centre offering services for children with autism, police say, prompting a community safety advisory. Lauriston Charles Maloney, 42, 'resides at, and has regular access to' the Beating the Odds centre, which offers services for children with autism, police said. 'Maloney is a convicted sex offender with several prior convictions, which include human trafficking of children,' the advisory read.
"OPP Sgt. Jason Folz told Global News Maloney faced charges in Peel Region and was convicted in 2004 and 2013. 'It’s a total of 16 criminal charges related to human trafficking and trafficking of minor age children, which has put him on the sex offender registry,' Folz said.... Maloney is not under any conditions relating to associating with young children, Folz said....
"The OPP said they were releasing the information as a precautionary measure. 'Members of the public are reminded that, although "Maloney does present a safety risk, his rights are guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” the advisory said. 'As such, the Nottawasaga OPP will act to protect these rights if they are infringed.'
"Police said they issued the advisory after a 'careful review of the offender as it relates to issues of public safety.' 'The Police Services Act permits the commissioner of the OPP, the local chief of police, or his/her designate, to make public notification regarding high-risk offenders in the community if the community’s safety will be enhanced by the release of the offender’s personal information,' the OPP noted." Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/9837508/man-convicted-human-trafficking-living-ontario-childrens-centre/
July 18, 2023 - "Amber Maloney, the owner of Beating the Odds, said her husband is not connected to her business. 'Yes, we share the same property address, but he does not work with these kids. He has his own job that brings him off-site and allows me to operate solely without him,' she wrote in a statement to CTV News....
"In an interview with CTV, Maloney called the police advisory 'ridiculous.' 'For every child, there is a supervisor who watches that child individually. It’s one-to-one therapy. So, no, I have no interaction with the children,” [he] said.... 'It’s just ridiculous that this is how they are trying to... make me look like some sort of predator.'
"Maloney claims he was convicted because he ran an escort agency from 2002 to 2004. 'I would be picking up women and bringing them to hotels with a company as well as collecting money and sometimes booking hotel rooms for the girls … Those charges were as a result of collecting money for the girls performing sex acts.' He claims one of the girls was a minor. 'It was in evidence that this girl provided false identification, but you’re still held liable as a company if somebody even provides false ID.'
"CTV requested court documents to confirm Maloney’s convictions but they were not provided."
July 19, 2023 - "Lauriston Maloney, 42, and his wife Amber Maloney, 36, were taken into police custody on Wednesday morning and charged with multiple offences related to recruiting, exercising control, exploitation, assault, forcible confinement, and financial benefit from committing a crime. A publication ban has been placed to protect any youth involved."
February 3, 2023 - "According to a new analysis of over 40 studies from around the world, children lost an average of one-third of a year of school during the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers say the loss is largely due to the disruption and damage school closures — and the subsequent shift to distance learning—brought on children's physical and mental health. This latest assessment is further evidence that pandemic school closures contributed to historic learning loss among children — a loss that seems increasingly difficult to repair.
"Published on Monday by the Nature Human Behaviour journal, the analysis compiled the results of 42 studies examining pandemic learning loss from 15 countries around the globe. It found that, globally, children lost 35 percent of a school year's worth of learning during the pandemic.
"The studies also indicate that attempts to reverse the severe learning loss caused by COVID school closures have been far from successful. Upon returning to the classroom, the deficits created during the pandemic have remained 'incredibly stable," indicating that pandemic-era learning losses are likely to follow children throughout the rest of their academic careers. The deficits are particularly pronounced in mathematics, which ... 'might be due to parents being better equipped to help their children with reading, and children advancing their reading skills (but not their maths skills) when reading for enjoyment outside of school.'
"Learning loss was more pronounced in the middle-income countries, like Mexico and South Africa, included in the analysis. Indeed, middle-income countries accounted for the three highest estimates of learning loss. Studies from low-income countries were excluded due to poor data quality, though researchers note that 'learning deficits are likely to be even larger in low-income countries, considering that these countries already faced a learning crisis before the pandemic, generally implemented longer school closures, and were under-resourced and ill-equipped to facilitate remote learning.'
"Even in a high-income country like the United States, the magnitude of learning loss remained steep. One study included in the analysis found that the average public school student in third grade through eighth grade lost half a year of math learning and a quarter of a year in reading.
"However, two countries studied, Sweden and Denmark, managed to experience no significant learning losses. Sweden famously managed to avoid most school closures during the pandemic and notably never closed primary schools. While Denmark did have school closures, one study theorized that the lack of learning loss could be due to the country's 'reliable digital infrastructure with Denmark being one of the absolute top-scorers in digital skills, broad-band connectivity, and digital public services in Europe'....
"Currently, the picture for American children is bleak. Without immediate intervention, 'learning loss will be the longest-lasting and most inequitable legacy of the pandemic,' Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist who reviewed the analysis, told the New York Times. According to the Hoover Institution, U.S. children attending school during the pandemic are likely to experience a 5 percent reduction in their lifetime earning potential — a number that rises to as high as 9 percent in some states."
August 18, 2022 - "For almost seven years, two Pennsylvania judges sent hundreds of children — some of them as young as 8 years old — to privately run juvenile detention centers in exchange for financial kickbacks. On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Conner ordered former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan to pay over $200 million in compensatory and punitive damages to their victims.
"According to testimony from plaintiffs during the class-action suit, many of the sentences the children received were staggering. One plaintiff, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to 11 months for driving the wrong way down a one-way street without a license. Another girl, then only 10, was sent to detention for a schoolyard fight with no serious injuries. One child was sent to detention for stealing a Hershey bar, another for writing on a school window with a marker.... One plaintiff was sentenced to an additional eight months in detention after Ciavarella instructed him to pick a sports team, and he picked the wrong one....
"According to CBS news, following the plot's discovery, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has thrown out 4,000 juvenile convictions between 2003 and 2008. However, many of the plaintiffs still suffer from mental health problems. Several children sent to detention by Ciavarella and Conahan have died by suicide or drug overdose in the years after their detention. 'Children and adolescents suffered unspeakable physical and emotional trauma at the hands of two judicial officers who swore by solemn oath to uphold the law,' Judge Conner wrote in a memorandum on the ruling. 'Ciavarella and Conahan abandoned their oath and breached the public trust. Their cruel and despicable actions victimized a vulnerable population of young people, many of whom were suffering from emotional issues and mental health concerns.'
"Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any of the plaintiffs will receive financial compensation for their unjust detentions as, according to the A.P., Ciavarella and Conahan are now serving lengthy prison sentences. Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in prison, and Conahan was sentenced to 17 years, though he was released to home confinement in 2020, citing COVID-19-related concerns....
"The plaintiffs in this case 'are the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions. The law is powerless to restore to plaintiffs the weeks, months, and years lost because of the actions of the defendants,' wrote Conner. 'But we hope that by listening to their experiences and acknowledging the depth of the damage done to their lives, we can provide them with a measure of closure and…ensure that their stories are never forgotten.'
August 10, 2022 - "The Danish government barred children under 18 years old from taking COVID-19 vaccines because of the low risk they face from the virus. 'Therefore, it will no longer be possible for children and young people under the age of 18 to get the 1st jab, and from 1 September 2022 it will no longer be possible to get the 2nd jab,' said the Danish government in a June statement.
"The statement said high-risk children can be vaccinated after being assessed by a doctor.
"The Danish government said many people have been vaccinated and infected with COVID-19. Immunity in Denmark remains high.... Invitations for people to be vaccinated will no longer be sent out. People who turn 18 years old and received two doses will not receive an invitation for the third. If people are older than 18, they can book their third dose.
"The Danish government said it continues to encourage unvaccinated people 18 and older to be vaccinated, as they are at a higher risk for serious illness. It said it recommends unvaccinated people wait until the fall to be vaccinated.
"The risk for COVID-19 is greater the older people become, so the Danish government said it will target those 40 years old and older. It added younger people might benefit from vaccines if they have risk factors such as chronic diseases and severe obesity....
"This approach is different from what Health Canada recommends, as it approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children on July 14. Health Canada said the Moderna vaccine can be given to children between the ages of six months and five years. It will be administered in doses one-quarter the size of what is approved for adults. Pfizer's vaccine for young children was submitted to Health Canada in June and remains under review.
"Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet apologized for promoting COVID-19 narratives in January. 'We failed,' said Ekstra Bladet. 'For almost two years, the press and the population have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities (sic) daily corona totals.'"
June 20, 2022 - "Covid lockdowns have created a 'global crisis for mental health', the World Health Organization has admitted. An international report by the UN agency found two years of restrictions have led to 'significant mental health consequences', especially for young people. The WHO now estimates more than a billion people around the world are living with a mental health disorder as a result, a quarter more than pre-Covid. It said there had been an even bigger rise among children, 'potentially reflecting the deep impact of school closures'....
"The WHO World Mental Health Report was published on June 16 by the WHO's mental health and substance division.... It said more than one billion people are now living with a mental health condition, after increasing by more than 25 per cent dung the first year of the pandemic. The most common types include anxiety, depression and developmental disorders like autism. But children were worst affected by restrictions, officials said, with rates of bullying and abuse at home increasing and a lack of social interaction causing isolation during school closures.
"The report said: 'Restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic for example had significant mental health consequences for many, including stress, anxiety or depression stemming from social isolation, disconnectedness and uncertainty about the future.' It added: 'Globally there was also a greater change in prevalence among younger age groups than older ones, potentially reflecting the deep impact of school closures and social restrictions on youth mental health.... For some children and adolescents, being made to stay at home is likely to have increased the risk of family stress or abuse, which are known risk factors for mental health problems.'
"The WHO's mental health and substance division is responsible for helping prevent mental, neurological and substance use disorders and was not in charge of the WHO's Covid response. It was signed off by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, who faced heavy criticism for his handling of the pandemic, which was deemed to be very 'China-centric', heaping praise on China's communist party for its response to the Covid outbreak.... But he has since been censored by Chinese state media for criticising the country's current zero Covid policy in May this year....
"Before the pandemic, the WHO estimated as many as one in seven (14 per cent) of children had a mental health disorder. The report did not estimate the current rate but said the 25 per cent increase in disorders across the world was even higher in children. It said: 'Extended school and university closures interrupted routines and social connections, meaning that young people missed out on learning and experiences expected for healthy development.... Disruption and isolation can fuel feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and loneliness, and can lead to affective and behavioural problems.'
"Boris Johnson closed England's 24,000 schools for the first time in March 2020, with some children returning briefly from June that year. Classes were then shut again in January 2021 at the start of the Alpha wave before reopening on March 1. Overall, schools in England were shut for longer than in any other European country. Several studies since then have shown young people's mental health deteriorated while learning at home. A study led by University College London researchers showed nearly five times as many children died of suicide compared to the virus during the first year of lockdowns....
"[The WHO report] comes after a new book claimed ministers ignored warnings that continued school closures would cause an upswing in mental health problems for children. The book, written by the founders of the UsForThem campaign, revealed Anne Longfield, then Children’s Commissioner, spent ‘weeks and weeks’ arguing that children should return to school.... Ms Longfield told the authors it was ‘absolutely unnecessary’ to keep schools closed until the last weeks of the summer term in 2020. She said: ‘It added a huge additional detriment to those children and was completely irresponsible and virtually criminal for those children.’"
March 30, 2022 - "A Pennsylvania judge ordered the removal of five school board members in West Chester on Tuesday after a parent petitioned the courts to remove board members that voted to make masks mandatory in schools. Judge William P. Mahon ruled that all five Democratic West Chester Area School District board members need to be 'removed from office.' Those members are board president Sue Tiernan, and directors Joyce Chester, Kate Shaw, Karen Herrmann, and Daryl Durnell.
"Judge Mahon wrote that his decision came after there was 'no response' to the petition by the school district or its counsel, according to court documents.
The announcement was posted on Twitter by a group called Moms for Liberty whose mission, according to their website, is to fight '...for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.'
"Beth Ann Rosica, a parent in the West Chester Area School District who holds a PhD in Education, filed the petition in February in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. In the filing, the petition states that board members are causing children '...permanent and irreparable harm due to their fabricating, feigning or intentionally exaggerating or including a medical symptom or disease which results in a potentially harmful medical evaluation or treatment to the child and as such, the (school directors) are to be held accountable.' The petition also alleged that school directors have '...created and implemented illegal policies that violate Constitutional rights and, as such, cause irreparable harm.'
"Talking to Daily Local News after the petition was filed in February, Beth Ann Rosica explained that 'We have been fighting this battle for a year.' 'The school districts are just not responding and not listening, so the only thing we have left to do is to recall the board members. We don't believe they have the legal authority to (mask the kids). Our kids have been masked in school for a year and a half. It's not acceptable. They are not their parents and they don't get to make these decisions for our children'....
" Kenneth Roos, attorney at Wisler Pearlstine LLP, which is representing the board members, said that they would be filing a motion to reconsider."
January 27 - "Bumper to bumper traffic on the Trans Canada Highway as the ‘Freedom Convoy’ rolled through Dryden. Honking transport trucks and other passenger vehicles were greeted Wednesday by hundreds of local supporters with cheering, signs and more honking. Supporters gathered along Highway 17 at various spots, with Provincial Police controlling traffic and maintaining safety. It took well over an hour, if not two hours, for the convoy to get through town. The group is on their way to Ottawa in protest against COVID-19 mandates, with their next stop in Thunder Bay tonight." Read more: https://www.ckdr.net/2022/01/26/freedom-convoy-greeted-by-dryden-supporters/
January 27, 2022 - "A convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions headed to Ottawa made an overnight stop in the Thunder Bay area.... The convoy, which is reported to be over 17 kilometres long, began in protest of vaccine mandates for truckers returning to Canada, and grew to include protesters of a wide range of COVID-19 restrictions.... The first convoy departed Prince Rupert, B.C. on Jan. 22 and arrived at a truck stop at Twin City Crossroads on West Arthur Street at about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening, with plans to depart the city on Thursday morning. About 113 transports and 276 other vehicles crossed the Ontario border as part of the convoy, according to the Ontario Provincial Police. Hundreds of supporters were on hand to greet the convoy....
"The protest convoy has been condemned by the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association.... The protest convoy has also been condemned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, though some MPs, including former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, have shown support. Scheer attended a gathering in Saskatchewan in support of the convoy." Read more: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/protest-convoy-makes-stop-in-thunder-bay-4998517
Janurary 27, 2022 - "Horns blared as truckers, pickup trucks, cars and SUVs rolled out of the Innisfil ONroute Thursday morning. Shortly before 9 a.m., supporters and participants in the 'Freedom Convoy' of truckers that began their long drive across Canada to protest pandemic mandates in B.C. left the Highway 400 fuel stop on the last leg of their journey to Ottawa.
"'We’re doing this for freedom. Freedom of choice,' said Nigel Atkinson of Haliburton.... Sitting in his warm pickup truck on a frosty morning, Atkinson said he doesn’t believe there should be any COVID-19-related mandates. 'It’s got nothing to do with vaccinations or not, it’s about our freedom of choice and having our Charter of Rights restored to us. There should be no mandates, period'....
"'I’m here today so we can get our freedom back from Mr. Trudeau who is running our country not very appropriately. I’m a vaccinated truck driver, I cross the border weekly. I don’t have a problem with the vaccine, but I have a problem because we should have the right to choose what we want to do and not lose our jobs over it,.” said Marie Weir of Angus.... 'We just want our unity back, our freedom back. And it’s not just about the vaccine, it’s about everything; carbon taxes, everything – just life'....
"A mother, Jen, and her small son Bennett (no last names given) attended the rally. As the horns blared and cheers broke through the crowd when the trucks started moving, the mother pointed to her son’s coloured drawing of a truck he was holding up for all to see. 'We wish our truckers well. We are here because it’s enough for our kids, it’s enough they’ve carried this weight on their shoulders for two years – it’s enough. We deserve better than this, our country is better than this,” she said.
"As the convoy moved south on Highway 400, approximately 100 warmly dressed well-wishers waved banners and dozens of Canadian flags on Innisfil’s 4th Line overpass. The cacophony of horns from the truckers and supporters echoed under the bridge as they left Innisfil on their way to Toronto and eventually, Ottawa." Read more: https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/video-freedom-convoy-rolls-into-simcoe-county-11-photos-4999657
January 27, 2022 - ""In Vaughan, Ont., truckers were met by crowds of supporters, some with no connection to the trucking industry, but who came out to voice their opposition to pandemic public health measures. But while many in the crowd held signs against the mandate, some appeared to be more on the fringe, holding signs like: 'Join or Die' and 'Liberty or Death.' One supporter was seen draped in the flag of the far-right group the Proud Boys....
"Mike Millian is the president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada. Millian said his organization is against vaccine mandates for truckers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, but not for the reasons many in the convoy might be. 'Truck drivers are isolated in their jobs, haven't been associated to spread, and we can't afford to damage our supply chain any more than it is,' he said. 'But this convoy seems to have morphed into a kind of protest against all vaccine and COVID-related shutdowns.' He said he believes there are many in the convoy just trying to exercise their right to peaceful protest, but added that unless the messaging around it changes, it's unlikely to win the support of the broader public.\
"Speaking to CBC News as they rolled eastward through Vaughan, however, some truckers said they believed the convoy is exactly what's needed as the pandemic stretches into the two-year mark.
''It's overwhelming. The country needs this. It's about time,' said participant DeAndre Mahadeo. 'This is what brings the country together.... Now we're really feeling some appreciation in what we do. It's not an easy life, let me tell you that.' He said the vaccine mandate is 'totally wrong'....
"Kelly Staring, a single mother of one, also came out to show her support. She says she was fired from her job with Toronto Water for failing to report her vaccination status by the prescribed deadline. By the start of this year, the city had fired 461 employees for failing to comply with its mandate. Asked why she felt it was important to demonstrate, Staring said: 'To make sure they know not everybody on this side is a bad person. I'm a good person.' Staring added she contracted COVID-19 in March 2021, along with several of her colleagues, but all of them survived and are healthy today. Staring said she isn't convinced of the need to vaccinate." Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/freedom-convoy-truckers-1.6329870
January 28, 2022 - "The 'freedom convoy' rolled into Kingston, Ont. early Thursday evening, the latest stop for the trucking convoy on its way to Ottawa to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other government restrictions. Dozens of people lined the Gardiners Road overpass to Hwy. 401 waiving Canadian flags and cheering as the convoy pulled off the highway.... The convoy is scheduled to depart Kingston at 8:30 a.m. Friday for Ottawa. Another convoy is scheduled to travel from Kingston to Ottawa on Saturday....
"The convoy travelled from Vaughan, Ont. to Kingston Thursday afternoon, stopping in Port Hope and Trenton along Hwy. 401. Ministry of Transportation cameras showed crowds gathering at the Hwy. 401 and Keele interchange in Toronto to show support for the convoy as it travelled through the city.
"'The information we have is that there are four separate convoys at least, including Windsor, Sarnia, Niagara Falls and the Toronto area all coming together,' said Sgt. Steve Koopman of Kingston police Thursday afternoon.... Kingston police are working with Ontario Provincial Police and other agencies to monitor the convoy....
"The convoy of truckers and supporters protesting vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions are expected to arrive on Parliament Hill Saturday. The movement has gathered steam nationwide, with videos showing highway gatherings in support of the truckers. The Freedom Convoy is calling for the end of vaccine mandates in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.... The list of demands includes the federal and provincial governments terminating the vaccine passports and all other 'obligatory vaccine contact tracing programs', and terminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates." Read more: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/truck-convoy-rolls-into-kingston-ont-1.5756220
November 16, 2021 - "Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will finally relax the city's mask mandate, she announced on Tuesday. On Monday, November 22, many indoor spaces will once again be allowed to forgo masks for customers, visitors, employees, and residents. Notable exceptions include public schools, public transportation, and government buildings....
"Bowser previously rescinded the mask mandate, then brought it back in July when COVID-19 cases began to increase.... Unlike the actions of local officials in nearby counties, including in Montgomery County, Maryland, who linked the mandate to a certain case threshold, Bowser never gave any indication what metrics would be used to determine when to relax the mandate. And while the delta wave did cause an increase in COVID-19 cases in Washington, it had no effect whatsoever on D.C.'s death rate. The city's seven-day death average has hovered at one or below the entire time that delta has been a serious issue. (It was last above one on May 24, 2021.)
"It would be hard to argue that the mask mandate was what kept delta deaths at bay, since all those masks failed to prevent cases from increasing. Widespread vaccination — which dramatically reduces severe disease and death — is the public health initiative that's working well, not the mask mandate.
"Yet Bowser's administration leaned hard on mask mandates as a pandemic prevention tool, even prioritizing them over vaccination in some curious cases. When D.C. gyms petitioned the city government to allow them to require their customers to be vaccinated rather than masked, for example, city health officials said no.
"Bowser's decision to keep the mask mandate in place for schools is a perfect example of the government's incoherent thinking about COVID-19 risks. While many school-aged children remain unvaccinated, they are at very low risk of a negative coronavirus health outcome — whether they are vaccinated or not. Elderly Americans who are vaccinated have much more to fear from COVID-19 than kids do, so it makes little sense to link the withdrawal of mask mandates to the degree of vaccination among the kinds of people who congregate in a given location.
"It is long past time to accept that COVID-19 is endemic and that there will always be some level of risk associated with it. People can drastically reduce their risk by getting vaccinated, getting booster shots, or even practicing greater caution if they so choose. It is not the government's responsibility to assign the correct level of risk to each individual American, and local officials like Bowser should not get to reimpose mask mandates just because they feel like it."
October 15, 2021 - "In New York City, I often see people walking down the sidewalk, masks hanging low over their chins, looking fearful and dodging one another. The health benefit from these wary rituals is minimal to nonexistent, and they illustrate the toll that fear of Covid-19 has taken on mental health.
"A new global study published in the Lancet examines 48 data sources in an attempt to quantify that toll. The authors report a world-wide increase of more than 129 million cases of major depression and anxiety disorders compared with pre-pandemic figures. They attribute this to the 'combined effects of the spread of the virus, lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, decreased public transport, school and business closures, and decreased social interactions, among other factors.'
"The rise in mental-health problems was correlated with both infection rates and restrictions on personal behavior: 'We estimated that the locations hit hardest by the pandemic in 2020, as measured with decreased human mobility and daily SARS-CoV-2 infection rate, had the greatest increases in prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders'....
"As in previous studies, the mental-health effect was most severe on younger people, likely because their need for social interactions is stronger and their social lives depend more on people outside the household. They are also at considerably less risk of severe disease, so restrictions pose a relatively heavy burden on them primarily for the benefit of their elders.
"From the beginning of the Covid outbreak in China, studies have found a connection between the severity of lockdowns and depression rates.... In most states, the average anxiety and depression scores increased during the late summer, fall and winter of 2020, while lockdowns were still in place. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost a third of adults in the U.S. reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder in late April and early May 2021, triple the number in 2019 before the pandemic started. But in South Dakota, which has had very few restrictions, the numbers were lower, with 24% reporting these symptoms.
"Government overreach in closing schools has caused a great mental health tragedy among our young. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has declared the Covid-19 pandemic the most severe disruption to education in history, with 1.6 billon learners in more than 190 countries out of school at some point in 2020.... A University of Washington study published last month by the Journal of the American Medical Association surveyed more than 2,300 American parents and found that remote learning negatively affected mental health and that 'older and Black and Hispanic children as well as those from families with lower income who attend school remotely may experience greater impairment to mental health than their younger, White, and higher income counterparts.'
"Badly conceived methods for stopping infection can be harmful to public health. Lockdowns and business closures were based on a model that ... proved ineffective at containing SARS-CoV-2, ... while causing enormous psychic damage. Even many people who didn’t get sick with Covid-19 will never be the same again."
July 16, 2021 - "Doctors are warning about a resurgence of common viruses such as colds and influenza that weren’t spreading as much because of the precautions and restrictions for COVID-19. But as people interact more they’re likely to spread and could hit children especially hard. As children emerge from their homes after COVID-19-related lockdowns, common viruses that all but disappeared during the pandemic are re-emerging too, doctors say.
"'This time of year in pediatric hospitals, it's usually quiet,' said Dr. Fatima Kakkar, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal. 'But now we're seeing a surge of respiratory infections.' The level of non-COVID illnesses is what Kakkar usually sees in the fall, she said, when children are out and about in daycares or schools.
"While the public health measures taken in the last year — including physical distancing, masking and staying home — were used to stop the spread of COVID-19, they also had the side benefit of preventing other respiratory viruses, including colds, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human parainfluenza virus, which causes croup. But experts say that also means because children haven't come in contact with those viruses for a long time, they haven't built up the antibodies they normally would — and they won't have the immunity they might otherwise have.
"'What's happened to us is we … had no exposure," said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist and microbiologist at Sinai Health in Toronto. 'Now that we're getting back to normal and kids can see each other, we're starting to see those infections [again] in children.'
"Kids will usually recover from most of these illnesses on their own, but Kakkar said pediatricians are especially worried about a rise in RSV. Although it's a common virus, it can cause breathing problems in infants and toddlers that are so severe they require hospital care, she said.
"Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory notifying health-care providers that RSV cases were on the rise in parts of the country, and asking them to test children with acute respiratory symptoms for RSV if COVID-19 was ruled out. According to the CDC, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under one.
"One respiratory virus that doctors aren't seeing yet is the flu, Kakkar said. But after a year with essentially no flu season, largely due to COVID-19 precautions, influenza is expected to return this fall. Even though our immune systems may not be ready for the flu this year, there's good news.... '[F]or the flu, we have a safe and effective vaccine,' said Dr. Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine.... Plus, she said, parents can use several of the same precautions they've [used] during the COVID-19 pandemic to help prevent the spread of re-emerging childhood viruses.
"'Wash your hands,' McGeer said. 'We know that simple things reduce your risk of respiratory viral infections. [There's] good evidence that washing your hands five times a day reduces the risk by about 30 per cent, give or take.' Staying home when you're sick and keeping your child at home if they have symptoms is also a behaviour ... that needs to continue, Kakkar said. Plus, parents should be prepared now to deal with viruses they wouldn't normally expect until the fall."
July 8, 2021 - "Children are at extremely slim risk of dying from Covid-19, according to some of the most comprehensive studies to date, which indicate the threat might be even lower than previously thought.
"Some 99.995% of the 469,982 children in England who were infected during the year examined by researchers survived, one study found. In fact, there were fewer deaths among children due to the virus than initially suspected. Among the 61 child deaths linked to a positive Covid-19 test in England, 25 were actually caused by the illness, the study found.
"The three studies, by researchers in the U.K. reviewing its national health system’s medical records or pulling together data from other countries, were published on preprint servers Thursday. The studies haven’t yet been reviewed by independent experts and are preliminary. The studies provide some of the most detailed analysis yet of severe illness and death from Covid-19 in children, a closely watched subject as schools prepare for a new academic year and parents weigh whether to have their children vaccinated if shots are cleared for younger ages. One of the studies focused only on deaths, while the other two examined the risks of severe illness and death....
"Researchers conducting the death study analyzed several national databases to identify children under 18 across England who had died from Covid-19 in the first year of the pandemic, from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. 'England is a large enough country and it’s had enough Covid, sadly, that we have better data than almost anywhere else in the world on the risks,' said Russell Viner, a professor of adolescent health at the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and senior author on the death study as well as another looking at English hospital and intensive-care admissions. Researchers from the University of Bristol, University of York and University of Liverpool were also key contributors to the three papers....
"Underlying health conditions, especially serious brain or nerve-related disabilities, increased the risk of dying of Covid-19, according to the study looking at child deaths. Fifteen of the 25 children in England who died because of Covid-19 during the period examined had underlying serious illnesses, the researchers said, while four had chronic underlying conditions.... Three of the deaths were due to multisystem inflammatory syndrome.... Six of the children who died due to Covid-19 didn’t appear to have an underlying health condition.... No child with a stand-alone diagnosis of asthma, diabetes, epilepsy or Down syndrome died from Covid-19, the researchers said.
"Underlying health conditions also raised the risk of severe illness, the two other papers said.... [O]ne of the studies ... found a higher risk of admission to intensive care among children with health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular disease. Those with multiple conditions had the highest risk. Even so, the absolute risk was very small, the researchers said.
"The studies all related to time periods that predated the emergence of the Delta variant that is now dominant in both the U.K. and the U.S., but the authors said there was as yet no evidence that the variant causes more severe illness or death among children.
June 9, 2021 – "The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF. Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward – released ahead of World Day Against Child Labour on 12th June – warns that progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.
"The report points to a significant rise in the number of children aged 5 to 11 years in child labour, who now account for just over half of the total global figure. The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety or morals – has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016....
"In sub-Saharan Africa, population growth, recurrent crises, extreme poverty, and inadequate social protection measures have led to an additional 16.6 million children in child labour over the past four years. Even in regions where there has been some headway since 2016, such as Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 is endangering that progress. The report warns that globally, 9 million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic. A simulation model shows this number could rise to 46 million....
"Additional economic shocks and school closures caused by COVID-19 mean that children already in child labour may be working longer hours or under worsening conditions, while many more may be forced into the worst forms of child labour due to job and income losses among vulnerable families.
'We are losing ground in the fight against child labour, and the last year has not made that fight any easier,' said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. 'Now, well into a second year of global lockdowns, school closures, economic disruptions, and shrinking national budgets, families are forced to make heart-breaking choices. We urge governments and international development banks to prioritize investments in programmes that can get children out of the workforce and back into school, and in social protection programmes that can help families avoid making this choice in the first place.'"
Other key findings in the report include:
The agriculture sector accounts for 70 per cent of children in child labour (112 million) followed by 20 per cent in services (31.4 million) and 10 per cent in industry (16.5 million).
Nearly 28 per cent of children aged 5 to 11 years and 35 per cent of children aged 12 to 14 years in child labour are out of school. Child labour is more prevalent among boys than girls at every age. When household chores performed for at least 21 hours per week are taken into account, the gender gap in child labour narrows.
The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (14 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (5 per cent).
Children in child labour are at risk of physical and mental harm."
April 11, 2021 - "The end of the pandemic is nigh. Americans continue to get vaccinated at a rapid clip. Life will be moving on. Except, it seems, for children. For more than a year, they have suffered from irrational, unscientific and downright superstitious policies inflicted upon them by adults — and there is no end in sight.
"In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance that three-foot social distancing suffices in schools, instead of the usual six. Yet in many localities where teachers unions wield power, schools still didn’t fully reopen. In New York City, schools have reopened on a (very) part-time basis in large part owing to the debunked six-foot rule. United Federation of Teachers boss Michael Mulgrew immediately balked at the guidance, calling it 'strange' and saying the union would consult with its own experts. But the real question is: Why do kids even need to socially distance at all?
"Many places in Europe, including Britain, as well as some schools across America, long ago scrapped social-distancing requirements for kids. They opened their schools and kept them open. That’s because research has repeatedly showed that children are at minuscule risk from the disease and also transmit it a much lower rate than do adults.
"We also need to cut it out with the masking of kids. Let’s notice that every video of a 2-year-old being escorted off an airplane for not wearing a mask is set in America. On European flights, masks are required for ages 6 and up.... And while masking 6-year-olds still seems unnecessary and should hopefully end soon, it’s saner than sticking one on a toddler.
"In November, Maria van Kerkhove, head of the World Health Organization’s emerging-diseases unit, clarified that 'for children under 6 years old, we don’t recommend the use of masks.' This, she said, was 'for many reasons — because of the way children are developing' and because enforcing adherence is a fool’s errand. She added: 'Between 6 [and] 11, we recommend taking a risk-based approach depending on where the children are, the types of activities they are doing.'
"Yet last week, YouTube removed a video of scientists from places like Stanford saying much the same to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Google-owned video service called it 'medical misinformation.' This, even though last April, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcocki said her site would interdict 'anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations.' In this case, it’s YouTube itself that was contradicting WHO....
"There is a specific reason other developed nations treat children differently than adults, and it seems hard for the coronavirus hysterics to accept: Again, COVID-19 largely doesn’t affect children.
"Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), caused a stir when he said last August that 'seasonal flu is actually, in many cases, a deadlier virus if [kids] contract that' — a claim that Politifact was forced to rate 'mostly true.' It’s actually completely true, and if this is surprising news, it’s because the CDC, virus guru Dr. Anthony Fauci and the media at large have failed to tell the truth about COVID’s risks to children and the risks of children spreading it to adults."
March 31, 2021 - "Upon hearing that San Diego teachers were providing instruction to migrant children but not American citizens, many clever parents began disguising their kids as illegal immigrants in hopes that their kids could finally see the inside of a classroom.
"'OK, Aiden, remember -- if they ask you what your name is, just say, "No hablo ingles",' said one parent as she dropped her kid off near the Mexican border in Chula Vista. 'And don't pick at your fake mustache; it'll fall off'....
"After waving goodbye to the kids, the parents peeled out in their minivans as they experienced their first taste of freedom in over a year -- the kids happily being taught by teachers as the moms went out and got mimosas for brunch.
"Unfortunately, the kids do have to sleep in cages with foil blankets now, but the parents say it's a sacrifice well worth making."
March 17, 2021 - "The disruption in healthcare services caused by Covid-19 may have led to an estimated 239,000 maternal and child deaths in South Asia, according to a new UN report. It's focused on Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, home to some 1.8 billion people. The report found that women, children and adolescents were the worst-hit....
"Many countries, including those in South Asia, responded to the pandemic with stringent lockdowns. While hospitals, pharmacies and grocers remained open, almost everything else shut down. The report - Direct and Indirect Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Response in South Asia - examines the effect of these government strategies on healthcare, social services, including schools, and the economy.
"It estimates that there have been 228,000 additional deaths of children under five in these six countries due to crucial services, ranging from nutrition benefits to immunisation, being halted. It says the number of children being treated for severe malnutrition fell by more than 80% in Bangladesh and Nepal, and immunisation among children dropped by 35% and 65% in India and Pakistan respectively.
"The report also says that child mortality rose the highest in India in 2020 - up by 15.4% - followed by Bangladesh at 13%. Sri Lanka saw the sharpest increase in maternal deaths - 21.5% followed by Pakistan's 21.3%....
"The full effect of the pandemic - and ensuing lockdowns - is just starting to become clear as countries take stock of their public health and education programmes. Experts in India already fear that malnutrition rates will be significantly worse across the country when the data pours in over the next few months....
"The interruption to health services also affected those suffering from other diseases - the report predicts an additional 5,943 deaths across the region among adolescents who couldn't get treated for tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid and HIV/Aids."
January 30, 2021 - "They are not likely to get seriously ill with Covid and there have been very few deaths. But children are still the victims of the virus - and our response to it.... From increasing rates of mental health problems to concerns about rising levels of abuse and neglect and the potential harm being done to the development of babies, the pandemic is threatening to have a devastating legacy on the nation's young.
"The closure of schools is, of course, damaging to children's education. But schools are not just a place for learning. They are places where kids socialise, develop emotionally and, for some, a refuge from troubled family life. Prof Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, ... told MPs on the Education Select Committee earlier this month: 'When we close schools we close their lives.' He [noted] a range of harms to children across the board from being isolated and lonely to suffering from sleep problems and reduced physical activity - alongside school closures all children's sport is currently banned.... Many experts are baffled by the approach to children's sport given the low risks of transmission outdoors and the clear benefits for emotional and physical wellbeing....
"The stress the pandemic has put on families, with rising levels of unemployment and financial insecurity combined with the stay-at-home orders, has put strain on home life up and down the land.... Unsurprisingly, there are clear signs the upheaval in children's lives is having an impact on children's mental health. The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2020 report, which is ... the official stocktake of the state of children's well-being ... found overall one in six children aged five to 16 had a probable mental health disorder, up from one in nine three years previously. Older girls had the highest rates.
"Older teenagers and adolescents have been affected too as they have seen their prospects shrink. The Youth Index, published in January by the Prince's Trust in partnership with YouGov, has been tracking the well-being of young people aged 16 to 25 for 12 years. It found more than half of young people were always or often feeling anxious - the highest level ever recorded. Jonathan Townsend, of The Prince's Trust, fears young people are 'losing all hope for their future'.
"At the opposite end of the age spectrum, health visitors, who support parents and babies during the early years, are worried about the impact on newborns. Research shows the first two to three years of a baby's life is the most crucial period of human development.... In some areas, health visitor numbers have dropped by half. This and the social distancing rules mean for a lot of parents the only support they have received has been online.... [T]he absence of baby and parent groups, and the friendships that naturally develop from them, has meant the babies of the pandemic have not benefited from the stimulus of social contact that is vital to their development. Alison Morton, head of the Institute of Health Visiting, says this has been an 'invisible' cost of the pandemic, but one that will have a lasting impact, particularly in the most deprived areas....
"There are around one million children with special educational needs and disabilities - around one in 10 of whom have complex and life-limiting conditions, such as severe cerebral palsy or cystic fibrosis.... Those with the most complex conditions can require care at home from specialist nurses and carers. This has become harder to obtain as staff have been redeployed or charities forced to cut back on their support networks.... Dame Christine Lenehan, director of the Council for Disabled Children, says in some cases children have ended up 'incarcerated' in their homes. 'There are some who have barely had any formal education since lockdown began.' She says even those who are the most independent have struggled, with many schools - she estimates more than half - unable to address the additional learning needs of children with special needs who are learning remotely....
"Between April and September there were 285 reports by councils of child deaths and incidents of serious harm, which includes child sexual exploitation. This was a rise of more than a quarter on the same period the year before. But children's commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, is worried this is just the tip of the iceberg, arguing the lockdowns, closure of schools and stay-at-home orders have led to a generation of vulnerable children becoming "invisible" to social workers. Referrals that would normally come in from a variety of sources, form health visitors to school nurses, dropped last year....
"Figures show that before the pandemic there were already more than two million children in England and Wales living in households affected by one of the 'toxic trio' - domestic abuse, parental drug and alcohol dependency or severe mental health issues. The fear is this will have risen significantly."
