Naomi Feely: We need a Covid recovery plan for children
As we emerge from the pandemic, it is clear that we need a Covid recovery plan for all children and young people in Ireland — particularly those experiencing disadvantage.
"Over the past two years we can see the difficulties that children and young people have suffered, but hopefully, now we will be able to allow children to have a normal life’.
These are the closing remarks of Judge Catherine McGuinness at the launch of the Children’s Rights Alliance annual Report Card on Monday. There is no doubt that children and young people have been severely impacted by the introduction of a wide range of restrictions introduced since March 2020. We know this through our interactions with our own children and with young people in our families, and in our communities.
This has been further reinforced by the extensive research carried out by academics, charities and government bodies.
One example of this is Molly’s story. Molly* is 10 and lives with her mother and younger sister in supported accommodation. Her mother suffers from poor mental health, but Molly is very mature for her age, and she takes on the role of carer for both her mother and sister.
Molly lived for over two years in emergency accommodation. She shared one room with her mother and sister and, sometimes, she didn’t even have her own bed. The only area she could play in was the hotel corridors. But by 7pm she had to return to her room because of the hotel rules.
She hated being stuck in one room as they couldn’t watch TV or have the main lights on, as her younger sister has to sleep.
The one consistent thing in her life was school. Molly loves school. And even though the hotel rooms were sometimes far from her school, she wanted to go every day. The school lockdowns were particularly hard for Molly as school is her respite. Since the family have been housed, Molly is much happier, but there are still ongoing problems.
Molly feels overly responsible for her sister and worries about other children still in emergency accommodation. Her relationship with her mother is difficult as there are still boundary issues: Molly still acts as her mother's carer and doesn’t see her as a parent. Further work is needed to restore relationships after the two years that the family spent in emergency accommodation.
They are currently in counselling to re-establish parent-child roles and separately, Molly still sees a child support worker.
As we emerge from the pandemic it is clear that we need a Covid recovery plan for all children and young people in Ireland, and, most particularly, those experiencing disadvantage.
The Government must learn from the actions that worked during the pandemic to prevent homelessness. At the very outset of the pandemic, the Government introduced an eviction moratorium and a freeze on rent increases. The intention was to ensure that families in the private rental sector would remain in their homes and not be left adrift, while also meeting the policy objective of preventing the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
This was a success and it resulted in an almost 40% reduction in family homelessness at the end of 2020 compared to 2019. After years of increased numbers of families experiencing homelessness the trend was finally bucked and positive progress in this area was observed. In recognition of this, the Children’s Rights Alliance awarded the government a C grade in its Report Card in this area last year.
So why has the Government fallen to an ‘E’ grade this year?
As the public health emergency has come under control and society has reopened, the Government has rolled back on restrictions, including those that have had a positive impact on some of the most vulnerable families.
Disappointingly, the progress made on homelessness has been eroded and the number of children and families in emergency accommodation is on the rise once more. In the course of a year, we have seen an extra 100 families enter homeless accommodation.
We are going in the wrong direction — this is why the Government’s grade has fallen so much in this year’s report card.
The Government has committed to ending homelessness by 2030. Key measures to achieve this are set out in its Housing for All Strategy published in September 2021. But these measures do not go far enough.
There is a need to step-up efforts to tackle child and family homelessness, particularly for those who are disproportionately impacted, including one-parent families, Traveller families, families with disabilities, and people leaving Direct Provision.
As a first step, the Government should undertake a comprehensive review of the measures introduced during the initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic and their impact on family homelessness.
Building on the progress that was made during the pandemic, it should adopt a preventive approach that prioritises the development of long-term affordable and social housing stock. The development of a family homeless strategy that is child-centred and has clear responsibilities, targets, and timelines are critical.
