Covid-19 as an endurance test for child welfare and domestic violence
How resilient are systems designed to protect children and adults from abuse, neglect and domestic violence? Science journalist Daniel Saraga examines this question in a blog post that is part of the NRP 80 series on DeFacto.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put social systems designed to protect children and adults from domestic violence to the test. The two lockdowns in particular led experts to suspect that there could be an increase in violence within families, as the health crisis exacerbated risk factors such as stress at work and financial worries.
Science journalist Daniel Saraga explores this question of a ‘pandemic within a pandemic’ in an article in the NRP 80 blog series on DeFacto. He also examines the roles of schools, neighbours and hospitals within social protection systems.
For his article, Daniel Saraga interviewed Tim Tausendfreund, head of the NRP 80 research project ‘Child protection – Covid-19 and beyond,’ and Paula Krüger, head of the ‘Domestic violence’ project. In the article, the two researchers explain the initial findings of their respective research groups.