The Effects of COVID on Families

While it was expected that the COVID-19 pandemic might bring some families closer, Nicholas says that in some households it seems to have worsened the situation. Parents, who are not trained to be teachers, have been finding it difficult to keep their children focused while doing online classes, and then there is the situation of some parents’ inability to help their children, particularly when it comes to their mental health. Alarmingly, some data collected so far suggests an increase in sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Margaret Nicholas, Executive Director, NCFC

“One of the things we really need to look at is the issue of mental health issues because in speaking to one counsellor, she was saying to me a lot of young people now are actually talking about suicide because they are asking the question why are we here; we can’t go to school, we can’t go anywhere. So the COVID regulations and everything that is attached to it has also caused quite a dilemma to our homes. We would have thought that perhaps now that parents and children can be locked up together, especially during the lockdown period, that that would have been a good time for family sharing and caring. And while in some homes that was the case, in some others it was not. In fact, the data shows you the spike in domestic violence. It also shows you the spike in child abuse, sexual abuse, incest and the like. So we really have quite a bit to think about.”