In Brief
- Climate change can disrupt children’s safety, routines, schools and communities, increasing vulnerability to mental health challenges.
- Strengthening family resilience before disasters can help parents prepare children, maintain stability and cushion disruptions.
- Policies should provide emergency resources, restore institutions quickly and prioritize prevention programs for vulnerable families.
As climate change brings more extreme weather events, strengthening families before disasters strike can help protect children’s health and well-being, says Mary McKay, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and expert on child mental health.
Climate change can bring more than environmental disruption. Extreme weather, drought and heat can contribute to food insecurity, financial hardship, displacement and social instability — circumstances that can be especially difficult for children.
A recent paper co-authored by McKay, “Strengthening Child and Family Resilience in the Context of Climate Change: A Call to Action,” published in the journal Global Social Welfare, calls for greater attention to strengthening family resilience as part of the response to climate change.
McKay and her co-authors, including WashU doctoral students Josephine Nabayinda and Claire Najjuuko, argue that preparing families before crises occur can help reduce their effects on children.
Climate change disrupts children’s support systems
Children depend on adults, schools and communities for safety, stability and emotional well-being, McKay said. Climate-related disruptions can affect all of those systems at once.
“Climate change disrupts these systems simultaneously and sets the conditions for food insecurity, displacement, economic hardship and social instability, thereby increasing children’s vulnerability to poor mental health outcomes,” she said.
A severe weather event, for example, can damage a home, disrupt school attendance, separate children from friends and community networks and interrupt daily routines.
Because children have fewer resources and coping skills than adults to navigate these disruptions, strengthening the adults and systems around them can provide an important layer of protection, she said.
Preparation can build resilience
Families can prepare for climate-related disruptions by talking with children about what might happen, developing contingency plans and having resources available to cushion the impact.
“The better prepared the adults are to talk with their children about these likely circumstances, to have contingency plans as needed and to have some resources in reserve to buffer the effects, the less children will be affected,” McKay said.
The goal is to make climate-related disruptions more manageable rather than allowing them to destabilize an entire household.
“Environmental shifts become circumstances to be planned for, rather then emergencies that upend the family and thus affect the child’s physical and emotional well-being.”
Policies can strengthen families before disaster strikes
McKay points to several ways policymakers and community leaders can help, including providing timely emergency assistance for basic needs, restoring schools and other institutions serving children as quickly as possible after disasters and supporting caregivers in helping children maintain safety and routines.
Advance preparation is critical, particularly for families with fewer resources.
“Leaders should create and test disaster preparation programs targeting families most likely to be impacted by climate-related changes, like flooding, before these events occur to assist with adaptation and protection. For example, financial strengthening interventions could assist families in accumulating resources and organizing their support networks in advance in order to withstand these ‘shocks,’” McKay said.
Building resilience before a disaster occurs can help families adapt when climate-related disruptions inevitably come — and help protect the children who depend on them.
