Letters to the Editor: Children will need support in ‘new normal’

But have we stopped to think if a return to normal is what children really need? The “new normal” has become an incredibly tired phrase over the last 18 months, but for some children it is the only normal they have ever known.

For some pupils, school has been a lot less stressful this year; reduced exam pressure or dealing with the anxiety of social interactions, the endless comparison and expectations. Many have had the attention of their parents like never before. Families that went into lockdown with healthy dynamics have often emerged closer and stronger. For other families, the difficulties they were already experiencing have been hugely exacerbated.

Covid has been a destabilising time for all children and young people when reassurance and a sense of safety are crucial for children’s development and mental wellbeing.

This generation is going to need time to heal. I am not just talking about the serious, diagnosable or even mild cases of mental health. I am talking about the basic skills that they need to cope with the world, with social interaction, with the normal everyday pressures of life. They need to learn how to manage and control their emotions, so they don’t escalate, and how to deal with conflict. They need long-term infrastructure to support and guide them, and their parents, through the normal everyday stresses of life. This requires a proactive and holistic approach.

Fegans is now part of Spurgeons Children’s Charity. As one charity, we can better provide the long-term support we know children will need to ensure they have a home life where they find the love, peace and safety that will give them a hope-filled future. Our different but complementary skills equip us to provide the care that children and young people need.

This generation of children and young people are going to need stabilisers for longer than most, with the right counselling and support. Their “normal” is going to need to look a bit different. That’s ok. They have missed some crucial development time.

Ian Soars, head of Fegans school counselling services at Spurgeons Children’s Charity

Rise in abuse follows pattern of history

The impact of the pandemic and lockdowns were predicted to increase child abuse and domestic violence, and so it has transpired.
The link between child abuse and poverty is contested by politicians, despite high-quality research going back many decades indicating poverty as a risk factor in child abuse. There are currently four million children living in poverty according to government figures. You can add parental mental illness, poor housing conditions, unemployment, drug and alcohol misuse as risk factors.

There is another more disturbing thesis about why child abuse endures and is so resilient to government intervention. It is that child abuse has been hidden, excused, denied or covered up, and has been since the beginning of recorded history. There is a wealth of evidence showing how the abuse of children – from child labour in the 18th century to corporal punishment in schools in the 20th century – was normalised and became an accepted part of society.

The history of childhood is the history of child abuse; it has never stopped and there is still considerable denial about the scale of abuse and the impact it has on adult survivors. Child abuse runs through the fabric of our society still and predominantly occurs within families.
The independent review of children’s social care is to be welcomed – hopefully it will match the expectations of professionals and parents concerned about the poor state of children’s social care and the repeated failures of the existing system.

Steven Walker, retired principal social work lecturer, and author of Children Forsaken: Child Abuse from Ancient to Modern Times (Critical Publishing), 2021