West Virginia Morning: All Things Kids Week Story Archives

The Dark Side Of Social Distancing — An Uptick In Domestic Violence Calls

Since stay-at-home orders were issued by Gov. Jim Justice on March 24, domestic violence calls are up in West Virginia. But advocates have seen fewer referrals for child abuse cases, and they think that will change once social distancing ends.

Call Volume Increases At Some W.Va. Domestic Violence Centers

Across West Virginia, there are several groups that help people in domestic violence situations find support, whether that’s for supplies or shelter. But the coronavirus pandemic has upended some of the traditional ways of doing that work.

“We have realized very quickly that staying at home is not always safe for everyone,” said Katie Spriggs, executive director of the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center in Martinsburg.

The center is one of 14 licensed domestic violence programs in West Virginia that serve all 55 counties. These programs fall within the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence and offer shelter, a 24-hour emergency hotline, advocacy, support and exit strategies for individuals and families in abusive situations.

Spriggs said since the stay-at-home order was issued by Gov. Justice, calls for shelter through the Empowerment Center have gone up significantly. And at least half of those calls are a single parent with a child.

“During a normal time, we get anywhere from one to three calls each day for shelter,” she said. “I mean, our hotline probably rings 100 times [on a] normal day, but actually requesting shelter, like ready to go exit plan, about one to three. And now we’re seeing about six to eight in a day.”

All of West Virginia’s shelters are still open, but Spriggs said her team has been inundated with calls.

Joyce Yedlosky, one of two team coordinators of the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said while the Coalition hadn’t heard whether all 14 programs have experienced an uptick in calls, some of them have.

Spriggs said all the licensed domestic violence programs have taken extra precautions to keep people safe, not only from abuse at home but also from COVID-19.

“We started by moving the beds, and then we started incorporating extra cleaning into the schedule, obviously extra sanitizing. And then we issued our own mini stay-at-home order within the shelters,” she explained. “So [that] none of the clients were coming and going anymore unless they had a medical need or they were going to work.”

In the Eastern Panhandle, the Empowerment Center’s shelter normally offers 16 beds, but due to social distancing, it’s now 10. So, they have partnered with 12 hotels throughout Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties to help provide shelter. During normal times, the Empowerment Center would typically only have one hotel partner per county.

So far, Spriggs said she’s not aware of any positive COVID-19 cases among those who they’ve placed in shelter.

What About The Kids Who May Be Experiencing Domestic Violence?

Kate Flack, CEO of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network, or WVCAN, said her team is actually seeing a decrease in the number of child abuse reports coming in. But not because there is less child abuse happening right now, but because there are fewer eyes on kids.

“As soon as we have children back in closer connection and more frequent connection with their community-based allies, and trusted adults, we do expect there’s going to be a spike in reports,” Flack said.

WVCAN has a network of 21 advocacy centers serving 43 counties in the state. Centers support and coordinate the work of police, caseworkers, doctors, victim advocates, prosecutors and other professionals. And they’re still open during the pandemic.

Last year, more than 4,500 West Virginia kids went to one of these centers due to allegations of physical or sexual abuse, exploitation or other types of endangerment.

“Most children in West Virginia are very safe in their own homes, however those who are at risk of being abused, there’s a good chance that their abusers are at home with them,” she said.

Flack said the child advocacy centers have started offering tele-mental health, while still providing in-person forensic interviews for kids who may have been abused.

But, for Flack, it’s still a struggle to find some supplies.

“We’ve been trying to find materials for our centers, and they’ve been scrambling to find materials, even cleaning supplies,” she explained. “All of them were making sure that the kids are six feet apart from the interviewer, and most of them were making available masks.”

Fewer Eyes On Kids

Flack said 1 in 5 reports of child abuse nationwide come from school serivce personnel.

But this week Gov. Justice announced schools in West Virginia will remain closed for the rest of the academic year. Which begs the question, who will watch out for vulnerable kids stuck at home?

Berkeley County Superintendent of Schools Patrick Murphy said it’s about keeping that teacher-student support going through constant communication, whether through a phone call, or in a Zoom classroom, or just checking in on a child who visits a food drop off.

And if all else fails, he said his staff are prepared to stop by a home and check in on a child they may not have heard from.

“Families that may not have technology or the ability to connect with some of the things that we are providing, so, there may be nothing wrong; we can’t jump to that conclusion,” he said.

Murphy said doing home visits while still keeping physically distant, allows school staff members to see the students and connect that way, to make sure everything is okay — and to remind kids they aren’t alone.

Molly Born contributed to this story.

Perks Of School At Home When You're 8? 'I Get To Spend Time With My New Dog'

This week on West Virginia Public Broadcasting we’re featuring stories about how the state’s youngest residents are faring during this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. Schools will remain closed for the rest of the year and that means big changes for students. Charleston resident Blaire Malkin interviewed her son Arlo, who is 8 years old, about what it’s like being out of school. Take a listen.

Want to share your story? Folloe the instructions here – https://www.wvpublic.org/post/kids-and-parents-we-want-hear-you-share-your-self-isolation-stories-wvpb#stream/0

Q&A: How Could Changes To School Lunch Program Affect Kids' Health?

Shortly before schools were closed to mitigate the spread ofCOVID-19, the USDA proposed changes to nutrition standards for school meals. But some health researchers worry that these changes could actually undo the progress schools have made in improving health outcomes in children.

In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which provided funding for federal school meals and increased access to healthy food for low-income children. The new nutrition standards went into effect two years later, and over the next several years, researchers saw better health outcomes for children who received these meals. Schools were required to offer more fruit, more servings and varieties of vegetables, more whole grain rich foods and less saturated fat and sodium.

But in January 2020, the USDA proposed changes that would provide what the agency described as more flexibility. It would give individual schools more control over meal plans. The USDA extended the comment period for its rule changes through Aprill 22. Until then, members of the public can send feedback about the plan. ‘

The USDA says the changes are intended to give schools more flexibility in determining the nutrition standards they want to implement for their students. But some health advocates, like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, say, if enacted, the new rules could make school meals less healthy, if they aren’t required to meet nutrition standards. Roxy Todd spoke with one researcher who recently published a study on how school nutrition has improved in the past 8 years — and why reversing these trends could be detrimental for millions of kids across the country.

***Editor’s Note: The following has been lightly edited for clarity.

Megan Lott is one of the researchers who led a study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Duke University which looks at how nutrition standards improved health for children who eat school meals.

Lott: The research has really indicated that the implementation of these nutrition standards, which started in 2012, have resulted in healthier, well-balanced meals, and that that has had significant short- and long-term positive implications for child health and academic performance. And importantly, the kids are really eating the meals and liking the meals. In fact, we find that kids [in] the schools that have the healthiest meals have the highest levels of school meal participation.

Todd: So the schools that are serving the healthiest meals have the highest participation of children who eat those meals?

Lott: That’s right. The schools have been doing innovative things with nutrition education in the cafeteria to help guide kids in making healthier choice, and really it comes down to — kids want healthy items, they want fruits and vegetables. They don’t want mushy vegetables. So it’s just as important that we are also providing schools with training and technical assistance to be able to learn how to cook the foods so that students will like and eat them and enjoy them, as well.

Todd:Kind of goes against what we assumed that kids love, you know, chicken nuggets and pizza, and that’s it. Why do kids want healthier things? I mean, what about it appeals to kids who we assume are picky or eaters?

Lott: If you look at the research going all the way back to infants and toddlers when you’re introducing foods, the key is really repetition. The research shows it can take up to 20 times for a kid to learn to like and adapt to new foods. I think when we look at the school meal standards, it’s not that different. For example, these standards went into effect in 2012. So a student who entered kindergarten that year is now in seventh or eighth grade — school meals today are all they’ve ever known. So for them, having this large variety of fruits and vegetables and whole grains to choose from every day is their normal.

Todd: And I know your study was conducted before schools across the nation were shut down as a result of the coronavirus. But now we’re seeing this shift across the country where kids who received school meals for free are either getting bagged lunches that their school districts offer, or in some cases people in the community are serving them. How does this shift impact in your mind the level of nutrition that kids are getting over this quarantine period?

Lott: Well, I think now more than ever, we are seeing how vital school meals are to our society. And it’s especially important that access to healthy school meals continue during the coronavirus outbreak. Kids can consume up to half of their daily calories at school and for many of those kids, especially the ones who stand to be most impacted by the proposed changes we were talking about earlier, school meals can be their only source of healthy food.

Todd:You’re a mom working from home right now, as am I. What advice do you have for parents, for grandparents, for neighbors who are essentially feeding a lot of the kids right now at home? What advice do you have for parents preparing meals in a more healthy way?

Lott: I think remembering to really focus on variety and amount at every meal. To think about each meal as an individual meal and offering half of your plate as fruits and vegetables, but also think about it in the context of the whole day. If you keep offering fruits and veggies, in particular, at every meal and snack, your kid is going to eat some of them and they’re going to be getting really good nutrition through that — maybe they don’t need every fruit and vegetable at every meal. But that’s okay. It’s about balance throughout the day.

Todd: So it used to be that schools had to offer as many whole grains as possible, but in 2018 the USDA changed the requirements so that only half had to be whole-grain. We know from research that whole grains are a really important part of our diet. Can you talk a little bit about? What are whole grains and why are they important?

Lott: Whole grains are, I think in [their] simplest form, they’re the unprocessed grain. So if you think about white rice versus brown rice, brown rice has an outer layer covering around it that white rice has had removed through processing, and that outer layer, it contains a lot of vitamins and minerals and importantly, it contains a lot of fiber. And so when you are eating whole grain foods like brown rice, or oatmeal or whole wheat bread, what’s happening is you’re getting extra vitamins and minerals that you would not be getting if you’re eating the processed versions, and your body gets full from eating less volume of that food and you stay fuller longer because that fiber really slows down the digestion. It allows your body to take more time to absorb all the key nutrients and minerals and importantly eat less throughout the day because you are really absorbing all those important nutrients.

Todd: Do you have a favorite whole grain that you’ve had luck giving to your kids?

Lott: Oatmeal. In my house, we eat a lot of brown rice or quinoa, but even 100 percent whole wheat bread bagels or pasta are good choices, 100 percent whole wheat crackers. But also a lot of people don’t realize popcorn is a whole grain. So that’s something we always keep — popcorn kernels — in our pantry. And if you’re just popping them on the stove with a little bit of oil, it’s a very healthy snack. Kids love it. Adults love it. We eat a lot of popcorn in our house.

With Schools Closed, Child Advocates Get Creative To Reach Vulnerable Children

For many children in West Virginia, school is a respite; it’s a place where they get two meals a day and where teachers and counselors keep watchful eyes over them. But schools have been closed for a month and will remain closed for at least another two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic. The situation has child welfare workers concerned that children in vulnerable situations may be going unnoticed.

Teachers and school counselors are mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect. Referrals to the state’s Child Protective Services are down. According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, referrals were at least 49 percent lower between March 13 and April 13 than during any month over the past year.

Even though the number of referrals has dropped, child advocates are worried that instances of abuse and neglect have not. Rather, with children at home, there are fewer eyes on them. Teachers, school counselors and social workers are getting creative with ways to reach children they used to see regularly.

Cindy Rubenstein is an elementary school counselor in Taylor County. During a normal school week, she would talk to kids going through all sorts of situations from academic struggles to parents getting divorced.

“Not seeing the kids face-to-face, not having access to them all the time, has been a challenge,” said Rubenstein.

Rubenstein has delivered meals to students’ doorsteps on behalf of the school system, and she’s been checking on students over the phone.

“There have been a few that I haven’t been able to get in touch with, which is worrisome,” she said.

After following-up with Child Protective Services, she learned all are OK.

Meanwhile, life goes on for the 7,233 children who are in the state’s foster care system. Agencies that oversee children once they enter the system are trying to help kids cope in new ways. Siblings sent to different placements have been connected through video chats.

“That just brought me to tears, when they were able to see each other over some type of video chat, they were just in tears,” said Michelle Vaughan, director of shelter services for the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, describing a reunion of sorts between two siblings at different emergency shelters.

Visitations with biological parents are happening over video conferencing, too. Where the technology isn’t available, foster parents are sending photos through the mail.

At an emergency shelter operated by the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, Delvin Johnson’s responsibilities have grown. He manages the shelter that has 10 beds for children ages 12 and older. All the beds are taken currently, as they usually are, a result of the state’s ongoing battle with the opioid epidemic.

Johnson’s days are spent helping kids do school work and trying to keep them active while not being allowed to leave the shelter’s grounds.

“These kids are resilient. They are brave. They’re helping staff. They know what’s going on in the world,” Johnson said.

While referrals to Child Protective Services are down and movement in the foster care system has slowed, there is increased interest in foster parenting. Agencies have moved trainings online and seen enrollment grow. And child welfare workers, who are considered essential workers during the pandemic, continue to help children and families.

Angie Hamilton Thomas is an executive director with Pressley Ridge, which offers youth education, treatment and foster care programs. She’s worried about the stress some already fragile families may be under.

“You know if you think about kids and families being more shut-in, more isolated in a lot of areas, some of the mental health issues and problems that children and families face can be escalated,” Thomas said.

Pressley Ridge is also using video chats and checking-in with clients more frequently than when visits were in-person. They’re looking for signs of distress that would prompt an in-person visit, even during a stay-at-home order and social distancing.

“We would practice the safety precautions, we will practice the CDC guidelines,” Thomas said. “But we would still have an obligation to be responsive to those families.”

04/20/20 9:20 a.m.: This story was modified to better reflect current information on adoptions.

Listen: W.Va. Speech Pathologist Shares Her Experience Reaching Students In Time Of Coronavirus

Christine Nichols is a speech pathologist at Winfield Elementary School in Putnam County. In this audio postcard she talks about the challenges of trying to do speech therapy remotely with young kids who may not have access to the internet – even if they have caregivers who can help them.

When Gov. Jim Justice issued a stay at home order in late March, teachers across the state rushed to set up ways to continue teaching, despite students being unable to come to the classroom.

Nichols was one of those educators.

“We made packets for all of our kids,” she said. “And we were under the gun a little bit because we only had a day to do it, and then we weren’t allowed to be back in the schools at all.”

In addition to making paper packets, Nichols and her colleagues were given other options to keep working with students, including talking by video chat and over the phone. But video chat only works if both parties have reliable internet, which can be a challenge in parts of West Virginia. The video platforms also need to comply with federal health privacy laws.

It also soon became apparent that not all students would be able to approach remote learning in the same ways.

“Some parents don’t have access to the internet, so that would make teletherapy impossible,” she said. “Some of our kids are staying with relatives that we didn’t know that they were with, or foster families — that made it difficult.”

As a speech pathologist, Nichols works with students to help them learn to better communicate. She said she often relies on visually assessing clients in order to help them, and that’s hard to do over the phone.

“Like if a child has trouble saying the ‘S’ sound, that could sound like the ‘F’ sound over the phone,” she said. “If I can’t see what that kid’s doing with their mouth, then I can’t give the feedback to say, ‘Oh, you need to put your teeth together.'”

Nichols said she also knows some parents are juggling working from home and teaching multiple kids.

“So, it’s a little bit unrealistic for me to say, ‘OK, you need to sit down with your one child for 30 minutes twice a week and do this,'” she said. “I want to be compassionate with our parents, and I want to make sure I’m not giving them something that [they] can’t handle, but I’m also trying to stay within the [Individualized Education Program] guidelines.” (IEPs are developed for each student receiving special education.)

She said, overall, some learning is still happening. Educators, parents and students are adapting as best they can, but the coronavirus pandemic unleashed a set of circumstances few could have imagined.

“We’re just now starting to get a handle on this and we will make it work,” she said, “but it’s just going to look really different than anything we’ve ever done.”

Kids And Parents We Want To Hear From You — Share Your Self-Isolation Stories With WVPB

Next week, WVPB is focusing on all things kids and kids out of school. We’re looking to hear from families about how things are going in this time of the coronavirus.

This could also be a fun activity to do with your kids. You can interview them; they can interview you. To participate, email a voice memo of your conversation to bpatterson@wvpublic.org.

If you have an iPhone, you can use the Voice Memos app. Android users you can download free voice recording apps to use. When you begin just make sure to introduce yourself and spell your name.

Some other questions to ask include:

How old are you?
What grade are you in?
Where do you go to school normally?
What’s school been like for you at home?
What’s your favorite part?
What do you miss?
Do you feel like you’re learning?
How are you feeling?

Want to keep the conversation going? Here are some other topics you might explore further:

How is remote learning going? Some people are having a lot of success, for others less so.
What does remote learning look like for you and your kids? Is it online?
Do you have multiple kids sharing one device? Or are you doing paper packets? Have you given up or are going strong?
Are you still getting food from school? How is that going?
What’s it like trying to work from home while homeschooling?
What are you looking forward to when the pandemic is over?

We might play your interview on the air. And thanks!