Angelina Jolie is concerned about how at-risk children will fare during the coronavirus pandemic. In an op-ed for Time magazine, the 44-year-old wrote that kids are “especially vulnerable to so many of the secondary impacts of the pandemic on society.”
She is referring, she said, to abused kids, who are required to skip school and self-isolate with their abusive parents. Jolie wrote: “Isolating a victim from family and friends is a well-known tactic of control by abusers, meaning that the social distancing that is necessary to stop COVID-19 is one that will inadvertently fuel a direct rise in trauma and suffering for vulnerable children. There are already reports of a surge in domestic violence around the world, including violent killings.”
Jolie continued: “It comes at a time when children are deprived of the very support networks that help them cope: from their trusted friends and teachers to after-school sports activities and visits to a beloved relative’s house that provide an escape from their abusive environment,” adding that schools serve as “a lifeline of opportunity as well as a shield offering protection — or at least a temporary reprieve — from violence, exploitation and other difficult circumstances, including sexual exploitation, forced marriage and child labor and domestic violence.”
Lockdown also means “fewer adult eyes on their situation.” She advised people to “make a point of calling family or friends, particularly where we might have concerns that someone is vulnerable.”