Ms Laura Keane:

We certainly have seen an increase in problematic coping strategies among parents because of the stress they experienced during the pandemic. Many of the parents and children who come to Barnardos were experiencing multiple challenges in terms of their well-being before the Covid crisis and had a great deal of adversity to manage in their lives. A significant number of the parents we work with come from very difficult childhood experiences themselves. During the Covid period, we definitely saw an increase in drug and alcohol use, a rise in conflict and violence within family homes and an exacerbation of existing parental mental health difficulties. Obviously, all of that had a direct impact on children's well-being and mental health.

On the specific point about an increase in drug and alcohol use in homes, what we saw and heard from families was that their home life really became like a pressure cooker during the Covid lockdowns. Those issues may have been in the background already but, suddenly, everybody was at home together, all day and every day, and there was stress on top of stress and none of the normal outlets, releases or reliefs in terms of school routines, work or social connections within the community. We certainly saw an increase in that type of pressure. In terms of children's direct lived experience, they saw parents being less emotionally and physically available to them because they were more likely to be using substances. Routines fell away in family homes and there was a sense of unpredictable, chaotic home lives, without any of the buffers that were there before Covid such as community activities and hobbies and, critically, school routines. There was a sense of people being in a pressure cooker scenario without any of the usual outlets.