Fredericksburg Parent

28 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • February 2022 28 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • February 2022 WRITTEN BY SHAWN RADCLIFFE The COVID-19 pandemic has brought almost two years of disruptions and unpredictability. This would be stressful for anyone, but for children and adolescents, the pandemic has touched every aspect of their lives. "Their whole world was ripped out from underneath them," says Barbara Barlow, executive director of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg— their routines were upended, schools moved online, they were cut off from friends, many children experienced disruptions to food and housing, and all families were dealing with some level of stress. "And in terms of deaths," says Barlow, "how many kids lost a loved one during the pandemic?" The answer to this question is particularly troublesome. Over 167,000 American children under 18 have lost a parent or other in- home caregiver to COVID-19, according to a report in early December by the COVID Collaborative. More than 70% of the bereaved children are 13 or younger, esti- mates the report. In addition, communities of color have been impacted the most. On top of this, children have also lost other relatives, friends, teachers and neighbors to the pandemic. The group's report was released just two days after the U.S. surgeon general warned of a "devastating" impact of the pandemic on young people's mental health—with increases in feelings of helplessness, depression and thoughts of suicide. Many children and adolescents struggled with these before the pandemic. In 2016, over 7% of 3- to 17-year-olds had anxiety or a behavioral problem, and 3% had depression, according to a study in the Journal of Pediatrics. COVID-19 has only widened these problems. "We [MHA-Fredericksburg] are getting calls from all of the school districts," says Barlow, "where the counselors and social workers at the schools are overwhelmed by the mental health needs of the students coming back physically to the classroom." Globally, depression and anxiety among children and adolescents doubled during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic esti- mates, according to an August 2021 study in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers also found that the rates were higher later in the pan- demic, and among older adolescents and girls. Emerging from Isolation: The Mental Health Fallout of COVID on Children and Adolescents

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