Resources for Professionals

There are many resources to support professionals working for and with children and youth during a pandemic.

Here are a few:

• The Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre brings together COVID-19 research and analysis to assist professionals in ending the COVID-19 pandemic. 
   

• The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Canada's foremost paediatric healthcare institution has released an Updated COVID-19 school operation guidance document. 
   

• Rebecca Vivrette and Jessica Dym Bartlett's article in Child Trends offers "Trauma-informed strategies for supporting children and youth in the child welfare system during COVID-19".
   

• "Equity concerns in the context of COVID-19: A focus on First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities in Canada" by the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal explores "health inequities underlying COVID-19’s spread, the uneven socioeconomic burden it places on communities, and the need to adequately prepare and respond using a social justice lens." Download it below!
   

• The Alliance for Child Protection and Humanitarian Action’s Technical Note: Protection of Children during the Coronavirus Pandemic, Version 2 (English & French) highlights child protection risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim of supporting child protection practitioners in their response. 
   

• The Alliance for Child Protection and Humanitarian Action has also produced a webinar on child protection during COVID-19. 
   

• Ryan Giroux (MD), Cindy Blackstock (PhD), and others explain the structural challenges First Nations, Métis, and Inuit families are experiencing during COVID-19 and how paediatricians can support them in this new commentary on the Canadian Paediatric Society's website.
   

• Kaitlin Curtice and Esther Choo's article, "Indigenous populations: left behind in the COVID-19 response" in The Lancet explains how first-wave COVID-19 responses have failed to address the needs of Indigenous communities. 
   

• The University of Toronto’s Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development’s literature review, Child Welfare and Pandemics: Literature Scan offers a useful tool for those delivering services to children, youth, and families during the coronavirus pandemic. 
   

• The University of Toronto’s Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development has produced a resource sheet, Child Welfare and Pandemics Information Sheet to accompany its Child Welfare and Pandemics: Literature Scan.
   

• The Child Welfare League of America’s coronavirus webpage shares “tips, sample policies and protocols, and resources” with the intent of supporting child protection agencies and practitioners during the coronavirus pandemic. 
   

• The World Health Organization (WHO)'s website on technical guidance for coronavirus disease offers important recommendations for workers and institutions responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
   

• The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)’s website publishes COVID-19 technical guidance for professionals in many sectors in the Americas. 
   

• The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)'s report, Preventing and Responding to Violence Against Children in the Americas describes the level of violence committed against children in the Americas and assesses policy interventions to address it. 
   

• Generations United’s article, “Grandfamilies: First Responders for Children” highlights the needs of grandparents with primary responsibility for their grandchildren, and promotes ways policy makers and service providers can support them. 
   

• This webinar, hosted on March 19, 2020 by the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) offers information and resources to tribal communities and service providers working to ensure American Indian and Alaska Native children’s safety during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. NICWA has also created a webpage of resources related to child welfare.
   

• Amnesty International Canada's Putting human rights at the heart of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic outlines human rights principles for guiding Canada's response. 
   

• A brief summary of Martin Goyette's (Ph.D.) research on the needs of youth leaving care in Quebec during the pandemic can be found in this press release. The full report is available in French. 
   

• The Australian Catholic University (ACU)'s portal on Safeguarding children during COVID-19 assembles resources for professionals working with children and their families during COVID-19.
   

• This manuscript by Dr. Jennifer Lehmann (2020), "What is happening for our vulnerable children and young people" has been accepted for Children Australia as a part of the Cambridge Coronavirus Collection.
   

• The Fostering Network (based in the UK)'s page on COVID-19 and fostering services shares useful practice information for those supporting children in foster care during this time.