TORONTO -- Being stuck at home with family during COVID-19 can be dangerous for children in volatile households, and a new online tool is offering resources for teachers who fear their students are being abused or neglected.
Before the pandemic, teachers and school counsellors were often among the first adults to notice unusual changes in students -- a possible sign that something was wrong at home. Now, with school taught virtually and less face-to-face time between teachers and students, child welfare experts fear that violence at home is going undetected.
“The pressures are incredible for some families,” said Wendy Carr, a professor of teaching in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia who specializes in youth mental health literacy education.
“We hear some kids are struggling with boredom or not being able to play with their friends. Other children are in families where they’re facing food shortages, parental mental illness that is being exacerbated … School is a great escape for them, and that’s been taken away.”
Reports of violence at home are rising. Kids Help Phone has seen a 112-per-cent increase in calls since this time last year, including a 28-per-cent spike in calls related to violence. On average, one in three calls is about pressures related to COVID-19, and the organization has hired more professional counsellors to help handle the surge in demand.
The connection between domestic abuse and COVID-19 was reported early on in the pandemic. A Toronto agency tasked with investigating child abuse reported an unusual spike in cases last month, and the Ottawa Police Service has urged the public to pay close attention to the well-being of children.
“Violence against women is increasing,” Carr said. “We know this from crisis lines, from women’s shelters, from emergency rooms, from the police. We know this is happening for women, and we can extrapolate that children are at least witnessing violence.”
A new online support tool, launched Wednesday through UBC with support from youth agencies and Nova Scotia Sen. Stanley Kutcher, provides teachers with the know-how and resources to identify and report abuse. The website includes phone numbers for each province where teachers can report suspected child abuse and crisis lines for Indigenous, Inuit and LGBTQ youth.
While teachers may not have the same one-on-one time with students, Carr said conversations over the phone or online can still include warning signs. One of the biggest red flags: a student suddenly becomes impossible to reach.
“If you’re just not getting a response from a family, that could signal that some kind of outreach might be necessary, that might involve a community worker, local public health or a local police liaison officer.”
Teachers should also pay close attention to their students behaviour and be on alert for any concerning changes.
“What is their demeanour when they were talking to you? Are you sensing tension, halting behaviours or reluctance to speak? Have your antenna up for things not being as they used to be,” Carr said.
Differentiating between an abused child and a child simply struggling to adapt to life under COVID-19 can be challenging. For teachers who feel uncertain about what to do, she said school counsellors remain an excellent resource.
“Counsellors have special training to identity signs, symptoms and signals that students give them,” she said.
It’s understandable to feel reluctant about reporting abuse, Carr said, but it’s better to err on the side of safety rather than ignore suspicions.
“A teacher doesn’t do this often. It’s quite a big step to report suspected abuse, but what it does is trigger an investigation, and that’s usually helpful. And if you suspect something is going on, likely there is. It could be heightened anxiety in that family or a lack of resources. By reporting that, you can help get resources to that family."
Kids Help Phone recently put out a call for new volunteers after seeing a spike in demand. Since then, more than 6,000 Canadians have reached out to offer help, and the organization plans to train more crisis responders in the next few months than they’ve trained in two years.
“We’ve been able to scale really, really fast to make sure to meet that demand,” said Alisa Simon, senior vice-president of innovation and chief youth officer with Kids Help Phone. “Canadians just want to find a way to help.”
For children and teenagers feeling trapped at home during this difficult time, Simon said Kids Help Phone remains available 24/7.
"There are still supports and help available. Whether that’s because they’re feeling unsafe, they’re feeling lonely or isolated, or whether they’re experiencing abuse or neglect, there is still help available.”
With files from The Canadian Press
