Sometimes, I have to put aside my grandmother's kindness and kindness and start to talk about the rules seriously. ADA Adams, 62, from Baltimore, USA, said when she was tutoring her 13-year-old granddaughter Kimia with her homework.
In 2017, due to unemployment and poor health, Kimia's mother took her to live with her grandmother. As her mother's illness was gradually brought under control, Kimia's life became regular. But the epidemic has changed all this. Kimia's mother was hospitalized with COVID-19 and her condition deteriorated sharply. She died three weeks later. The death of her daughter disrupted ADA's and his wife's plans for retirement. "My daughter grew up without the Internet and social media, but now it has completely changed." ADA said.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, about 250000 children, like Kimia, have lost their parents or primary caregivers and become "epidemic orphans". Now, Kimia participates in the activities of the public welfare organization "Roberta's house" every week to receive psychological counseling. The head of the organization said: "the pain caused by the epidemic is affecting a generation of American teenagers."
On May 12, the flag of New York City Hall flew at half mast to mourn the dead. US President Biden said in a statement on the White House website on the same day: "today, we commemorate a tragic milestone: 1million Americans died in the new crown." Shen Jizhong
In September, 2021, Jeff and Amy, from Huntsville, North Carolina, died of COVID-19. A happy family of six fell apart and the life path of their four children changed. The two older children went to their respective ex-wife and ex husband's home. The two younger children went to live in Aimei's sister's home, who also raised her two children.
The children's grandmother Tina said that they all know that their parents died of COVID-19. 6-year-old emery is relatively calm, while 7-year-old Jackson is more sensitive. He often says he misses his mother. "I said, I also miss your mother very much, and then our eyes are full of tears, holding together." Tina told sadly.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics of the American Medical Association shows that the proportion of American children who have lost their parents or caregivers has increased by 17.5% to 20.2%. Forbes magazine of the United States pointed out that the CDC only records the death cases of COVID-19 and lacks the statistical data of "epidemic orphans". During the epidemic period, the number of such children may be much higher than the estimates of relevant studies.
The US Vaux news network called it "childhood sadness crisis". The report quoted experts as saying that policy makers ignored the impact of losing parents in the epidemic on children. "When this generation of children who have been psychologically and emotionally traumatized by the epidemic grow up, their behavior and life will be affected."
Vicky Jay, CEO of the National Children's grief alliance, an American public welfare organization, said that it is difficult to provide psychological counseling for traumatized children because they do not know which children have experienced misfortune in the epidemic because of the lack of data. At the same time, she was concerned about the differences in the resources for children of different ethnic groups to receive mental health treatment. In particular, ethnic minorities in the United States were more affected by the epidemic, and the proportion of "epidemic orphans" among ethnic minorities was also higher.
A CDC study found that Native American, African American and Hispanic children are 4.5 times, 2.4 times and 1.8 times more likely to lose their parents or caregivers than white children, respectively. Data show that ethnic minority children are more vulnerable to mental health problems and have very limited resources for treatment and help.
Rachelkidman, a social epidemiologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, said that at present, there is no agency in the United States responsible for coordinating and helping the children who have lost loved ones affected by the epidemic, no one takes the lead in efforts to understand the scale of the crisis, no one offers help to children, and no one helps them cope with their painful experiences. "In the United States, we have not experienced such a large-scale loss of loved ones. Now this is not over."
David weaver, a professor of economics at the Catholic University of the United States who has worked in the Congressional Budget Office for a long time, said that even before the outbreak, only half of American children who lost their parents or caregivers received government social security benefits. "Children who have lost close relatives due to the epidemic can not get enough guaranteed income support, which will push up the child poverty rate and bring long-term negative social effects."