JAACAP’s Role in Advancing the Science of Pediatric Mental Health and Promoting the Care of Youth and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As we pen these words, the COVID-19 pandemic is having profound impacts on human society. Based on decades of research, we know that the accompanying illness,1 death,2 social isolation,3,4 and malnutrition5 will have deep and lasting impacts on our children and adolescents, their families, and the communities in which they develop. The pandemic is exposing, with terrible clarity, the disparities in human society—racism,6 poverty,7,8 domestic violence,9,10 and child maltreatment and neglect11—and tragically will likely amplify the negative impacts that each has on child development and mental health.