SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 25 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The need to strengthen the protection system for children, adolescents and families and adequately provide child and adolescent mental health care, as well as social integration services for minors in residential care and with judicial measures of open regime, are some of the conclusions of the study ‘Impact of Covid-19 on the Welfare of Children, Adolescents and Families in the Canary Islands: Opportunities to strengthen the prevention and protection system’, which were released this Monday in the framework of a day of good practices aimed at the technical staff of social entities and public administration.
The study, promoted by the General Directorate for the Protection of Children and the Family, has been carried out by a research team from the Universities of La Laguna and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria under the coordination of the Professor of Evolutionary Psychology and Specialist in Intervention and Family Mediation, María Josefa Rodrigo López.
“The objective of this research work has been to analyze the effects of an unknown situation such as the health crisis generated by the covid-19 virus and how it influenced the functioning of the areas of the prevention, protection and care system for our child-juvenile population”, explained in a note the general director of the Children and Family area, Iratxe Serrano.
In addition, he stressed that “the ultimate goal has been to provide us with a set of tools that allow us to improve care in this area in the face of similar future situations.”
To do this, he clarified, “what this study offers us is to have keys that allow us to make decisions and offer more effective responses to this or other possible health crises and thus ensure a belt that accurately and adequately protects the well-being of our girls and boys and their families”.
FOUR THEMATIC AXES OF THE STUDY
As a methodology for carrying out this research work, the point of view of the groups involved has been collected through interviews, from minors and families to professionals in the fields of family, education, health, social services and protection of minors, social entities, justice and the media, in relation to four thematic axes.
Specifically, it is about the operational difficulties in the various areas resulting from the negative impact of the pandemic; the adjustments that have been made to deal with these difficulties; the strengths or resilient capacities available both at the personal level and at the level of the system or area and the recommendations for improving its operation.
From all this, a set of elements have been extracted to work towards the development of future lines of care for the child and youth population, such as the need to strengthen the public prevention system and improve educational, health and judicial services. specialized care to deal with the consequences of the pandemic; launch lines of action aimed at overcoming the digital divide so that everyone benefits equally from technological advances; adjust the social image of childhood and adolescence to contrasted evidence, avoiding, for example, stigmatization and emphasizing their responsible involvement in caring for themselves and others, or promoting networking between different services and resources of social entities in the area of childhood, adolescence and families.
The conclusions of this report were presented within the framework of a virtual technical seminar entitled ‘Experiences of good practices in attention to Children and Adolescents’, held this Monday, ‘International Day of the Fight against Child Abuse’, with the participation of more than fifty professionals from the fields of childhood, adolescence and families, both from public bodies and social entities that work in this field of care.
