By Shirley L. Smith,
New York Amsterdam News

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as America’s ongoing battle with gun crime, have shone a long-overdue focus on the effect of grief on children. Child advocates are expecting that increased consciousness will trigger a cultural change in American schools, making grief counselling and training as ubiquitous as active-shooter exercises and recreational sports.

“It’s important to remember that most active shooters are students.” They are not strangers, so we must consider how to create schools where we are connected to students, and how to create within schools a welcoming, supportive community that supports both academic achievement and student health and well-being,” said Kristen Harper, vice president for public policy and engagement at Child Trends, a nonpartisan research organisation based in Bethesda, Maryland. “It’s far too late if we limit our discussion to what to do when an active shooter approaches the door.”

Since COVID-19 arrived in the United States in 2020, researchers estimate that more than 300,000 children have lost one or both parents or a senior carer to the illness as of September. When compared to their population percentage, Black and Indigenous children have the greatest rates of parental and carer death due to COVID, followed by Hispanic children.

Many of these children were already drowning in sorrow and living in dread as a result of poverty and gun violence, according to Kevin Carter, a bereavement counsellor and former clinical head of the Uplift Center for Grieving Children in Philadelphia. The centre offers complimentary grief counselling to children, families, and institutions. The majority of its clients are people of colour who are dealing with loss, trauma, and abuse.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black and Indigenous families bear the largest weight of mortality losses from gun violence and drug overdoses, both of which have risen to levels not seen in years during the pandemic. Gun violence will be the top cause of mortality among minors in 2020.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated in a Webinar on Oct. 4 that because of health care inequalities, Black and brown populations have bore the brunt of COVID and other life-threatening diseases. It will take “decades of commitment” to eliminate “health disparities that are a result of social determinants of health that I believe are deeply rooted in the original sin of racism,” he said. “We have to get past that and ensure equity in our ability to provide care to people.”

The CDC has also identified social determinants of health, such as systemic racism and poverty, as adding factors to the disproportionate effect of gun crime on minority populations.

According to CDC statistics, Mississippi, the poorest state in the country, has the greatest incidence of gun fatalities. Empower Mississippi, a nonprofit advocacy organization, recently examined FBI statistics and discovered that more than half of the state’s homicides in 2020 occurred in Jackson, a predominantly Black community with poor infrastructure that EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement is the result of “years of neglect.” Mississippi also has the largest proportion of Black children who have lost a parent or carer to COVID.

The murder rate in Philadelphia, which also has high rates of poverty in minority neighborhoods, has “escalated dramatically” since 2016, and 2021 has been declared the “deadliest year in Philadelphia’s recorded history” by the city controller’s office.

“We were certainly unprepared for this increasing tsunami of grief,” Carter said. “We were in a crisis of neglect before the pandemic, because I don’t think we would have had this disproportionate effect from COVID if we had better health care, better education, and if we were seen more as humans.” COVID worsened racial inequalities, which he believes could have generational ramifications if bereaved children do not receive the care they require to help them through their long-term healing path.

According to Carter and other experts, schools cannot continue to expect an increasing number of bereaved children to function normally when many of them are mentally wounded as a result of unresolved sorrow and trauma. Overwhelming emotions of loss and dread, he said, can lead to anger, and “that rage sometimes turns into consciously hurting other people or hurting yourself.”

However, most educators are better equipped to deal with an active shooter than the thousands of students who arrive at school grieving or traumatised after watching or experiencing the death of a loved one at home or in their community. Many teachers are also unfit to cope with the emotional consequences of active-shooter exercises.

According to the gun-control advocacy organisation Everytown for Gun Safety, almost all K-12 schools in America perform active-shooter exercises, and at least 40 states mandate schools to do these drills, which range from shutting students in a room with the lights turned off to accurate models of gunshots and disguised shooters. Active-shooter exercises are mandatory in Florida schools once a month.

According to a survey conducted by Everytown for firearms Safety and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Social Dynamics and Wellbeing Lab, school killings are “relatively rare—accounting for less than 1% of the more than 40,000 annual U.S. gun deaths.” The research “unveiled alarming effects of active-shooter drills on the mental health of students, teachers, and parents,” but “provided limited evidence of the effectiveness of these drills.”

“I used to have to lock kindergarteners in the bathroom for 20 minutes with the lights turned off during drills.” In an interview, Amy Christopoulos, a former teacher and supervisor with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, said, “That’s horrific.” She is now the district’s homeless representative. “Simulated exercises can be frightening for a 5-year-old. It’s extremely upsetting. Some of the children were so terrified that they soiled in their clothes.”

We spend so much time on active-shooter drills, but we do not spend enough time on grief training and how to connect bereaved students with mental health professionals, according to Christopoulos, who believes Miami-Dade is “ahead of the trend” in educating teachers on how to deal with mental health.

According to experts, children who have unaddressed sorrow and trauma tend to act out, which can have severe repercussions, especially for Black students and students with disabilities, who are more likely to be suspended, dismissed, and jailed. “In my experience, children of colour are frequently perceived as more threatening, and people respond to that perceived threat with control and punishment,” said Carter, a social worker with 30 years of experience.

“There have been cases where schools have called EMTs and ambulances for children who are acting out because they don’t know what to do,” Harper said. According to Maria Collins, vice president of the New York Life Foundation, one of the biggest supporters of childhood grief in the United States, only 15% of educators polled in 2020 indicated that they had gotten instruction in childhood bereavement. However, 95% of educators said they “would like to do more to assist grieving students.”

The Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative (GSSI) was established by the organisation in 2018 to “better equip educators and other school personnel to support grieving students.” Schools that participate in the programme are qualified for a $500 grant as well as free bereavement counselling from Dr. David Schonfeld, a developmental-behavioral paediatrician and the head of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. According to Collins, over 3,900 institutions have joined the effort.

“I believe that grief training should be part of the core curriculum for educators because kids come to school upset every day, and educators can’t simply say they’re not ready to learn.” In an interview, Schonfeld stated, “They have to try to build the culture and climate in the classroom to make them more capable.” He stated that they are not expecting educators, who are facing new challenges, to become grief counselors, but rather to learn more about how sorrow affects children in order to create a more conducive learning atmosphere.

Schonfeld noted that losing a parent or loved one at a young age can have a substantial impact on children’s emotional, social, and behavioural development, as well as their general health. “But I don’t want people to believe that as a result of it, they’re destined to be damaged or lesser people.” Bereaved children, unlike those suffering from mental illnesses, usually do not require medical intervention, but they do require support, and if they receive sufficient support in a nurturing setting to help them develop healthy coping skills, they can flourish.

School psychologist Frank Zenere of Miami-Dade County Public Schools said the district joined GSSI about four years ago (following the fatal mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida) to increase instructors’ sensitivity towards bereaved children. He did, however, admit that there is still a lot of work to be done. There is a rising effort to make schools more sensitive to mourning. A grief-sensitive school setting is described by Frank Zenere, school psychologist for Miami-Dade County Public Schools and district supervisor for the Student Services/Crisis Program. (Video produced by Shirley L. Smith)

While grief is a common feeling, it is one of the most difficult topics to discuss, according to Collins. GSSI instructs educators on how to interact with bereaved pupils and expands their knowledge of how sorrow affects children’s ability to learn. In an interview, Micki Burns, a psychologist and the chief clinical officer for Judi’s House, a comprehensive grief care facility in Colorado, cautioned that grief can mimic the symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), because bereaved children may also have difficulty concentrating. “They may not be able to sit and focus for a 30-minute lesson and take in what the teacher is saying.”

Bereaved children, on the other hand, may become “so focused and so concentrated that they become a perfectionist, and they start to present as someone who is unable to fail, as if I cannot fail,” Burns added. “Psychologically, that’s where we see the possibility of increased depression, anxiety, and suicidal thinking.” Despite evidence that school-based mental health personnel improve school climate and reduce violence, an analysis of the 2015-2016 school year by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) revealed severe staff shortages of school-based mental health providers and glaring disparities in school discipline in more than 96,000 public schools, which researchers say persist today.

According to ACLU researchers, “14 million students are in schools with cops but no counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social worker.” According to the study, these people are frequently the first to see children who are ill, stressed, traumatized, acting out, or who may harm themselves or others.

For more than three decades, school counsellors have been burdened with large caseloads. The American School Counselor Association suggests a student-to-counselor ratio of 250, but the average nationwide number for 2020-2021 was 415. In an interview, Vittoria Cianciulli, trust counsellor at Miami Lakes Middle School in Florida, said she helps 1,000 pupils. Her responsibilities include helping students with emotional and mental health problems, as well as offering programs to avoid drug misuse and bullying.

Cianciulli said she enjoys her work but gets frustrated because she cannot meet the requirements of every student and is concerned about students slipping between the cracks. “It all adds up, especially the responsibility.” I just want to make sure I’m assisting a child in crisis, that no one departs school and, God forbid, something bad occurs to them.”

School counsellors are also overworked. In 2020-2021, the nationwide ratio for school psychologists was 1,162 pupils to one school psychologist. This is significantly higher than the suggested ratio of 500 pupils per psychologist by the National Association of School Psychologists. With an astounding 376,280 pupils to one psychologist, Alabama has the largest recorded number.

The worrisome rise in mental illness among children during the epidemic, combined with an increase in gun violence, led Congress to approve the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June, which contains substantial funding for school-based mental health services and personnel. “It’s a huge step in the right direction,” Child Trends’ Kristen Harper said. “Schools require consistent funding to build long-term infrastructure, but this is only one part of the equation.” Consistent financing does not address the wider health and academic disparities that endanger children.”

“The conversation about school safety and student health tends to fall off the radar until a tragedy occurs, which leads to reactionary policies that give the appearance of safety but have been proven to be ineffective, such as punitive disciplinary practices, ill-conceived active-shooter drills, and school-based policing,” Harper added. Educators, she says, must create “evidence-based” prevention methods.

“A culture shift from an authoritarian, punitive culture to a culture of support is required,” Harper added. At the core of this change, she says, is ensuring that schools have enough counsellors and mental health experts, as well as developing strong connections between students and adults in the schools. “If students believe they can trust a teacher or another adult at school, they will speak up when something is wrong.” Schools should also ensure that students’ basic requirements are fulfilled, “so that children do not come to school hungry, and if they do, there is food available for them.”

Harper maintains that this strategy will make schools safer and ensure that students struggling with emotional, mental, or behavioral problems receive adequate treatment before they spiral out of control. “Students who feel supported at school are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drug abuse and violence, as well as to experience emotional distress.”

Kevin Carter agreed with Harper’s call for a less punishing approach. “This isn’t to say you shouldn’t set boundaries, but if adults are calm and understanding, it’s less likely that a situation will escalate, and even if it does, no one will be hurt, and that child will get the care he or she requires.”

For guidance on how to talk to bereaved students, please visit: https://grievingstudents.org/module-section/talking-with-children/

The National Geographic Society’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists provided funding for this endeavor. This article first published in the New York Amsterdam News.