Deutsches Jugendinstitut e.V. (German Youth Institute), Abteilung Familie und Familienpolitik (Department of Family and Family Policy), Nockherstraße 2, 81541, Munich, Germany.
Child Abuse Negl. 2020 Dec;110(Pt 2):104716. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104716. Epub 2020 Sep 15.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the situation and well-being of children and their families, while simultaneously affecting the ability of welfare services for children and youth to support vulnerable families. As measures of contact restrictions were introduced to contain the virus, and schools and childcare facilities closed, the potential risk to child welfare could hardly be overlooked.
Focusing on Germany, this article aims to explore some of the effects of the COVID-19 measures on children and families. Furthermore, it examines a number of key challenges for child protection practitioners. These include identifying potential cases of child maltreatment without the support normally provided by teachers and child carers; and establishing and maintaining contact with clients under physical distancing rules.
The article is based on a review of German and English language scientific and journalistic articles, position papers from professional associations and other gray literature. It benefits from recently published (interim) results of empirical studies conducted in Germany, which explore child welfare issues in the pandemic.
Under COVID-19, the child welfare system faces unprecedented challenges and uncertainty (e.g. (partial) loss of cooperation opportunities with key partners) whilst showing signs of remarkable resilience (e.g. child protection workers' ability to adjust to new conditions). While the potential of digitalising work processes in child protection has become apparent in the pandemic, the proven continuous face-to-face contact between practitioners and their clients is neither dispensable nor replaceable.
冠状病毒大流行对儿童及其家庭的状况和福祉产生了重大影响，同时也影响了儿童和青年福利服务支持弱势家庭的能力。随着为遏制病毒而引入的接触限制措施以及学校和日托设施关闭，儿童福利的潜在风险不容忽视。
本文以德国为重点，探讨了 COVID-19 措施对儿童和家庭的一些影响。此外，它还考察了儿童保护从业者面临的一些关键挑战。其中包括在没有教师和儿童保育员通常提供的支持的情况下识别潜在的虐待儿童案件；以及在保持身体距离的规则下与客户建立和保持联系。
本文基于对德国和英语科学和新闻文章、专业协会的立场文件和其他灰色文献的审查。它受益于最近在德国进行的探索大流行中儿童福利问题的实证研究的（临时）结果。
在 COVID-19 期间，儿童福利系统面临着前所未有的挑战和不确定性（例如，与关键合作伙伴的合作机会部分丧失），同时表现出明显的弹性（例如，儿童保护工作者适应新条件的能力）。虽然在儿童保护工作中数字化工作流程的潜力在大流行中已经显现，但实践工作者与其客户之间经过验证的持续面对面接触既不可缺少也不可替代。
