Is COVID really to blame for developmentally delayed kids, still in nappies etc?

That's the problem. Chronically underfunded social support services - health visitors, social work, healthcare. If all of those things were working correctly then the family should have been offered support shortly after the first concerns were raised. But they can't do that because they don't have the staff or the hours in the day, so all their time is spent firefighting and trying to prevent the horrific cases where children are badly at risk. We have all read the news reports where those fail. Yes, you can't make an autistic child not autistic by loving them enough but you can sure as hell make a disabled child more disabled, or a non disabled child delayed by neglecting their needs, and sometimes the damage done is so severe they may never catch up. And I know people will go all "ooh bleeding heart liberal" on me but what if the parents had received support in their own childhoods or young adulthood? For example the one addicted to XBox - did they have adequate parenting themselves? Did they finish school? Are they potentially suffering with some mental health condition like depression, anxiety or a ND condition like ASD, ADHD? Not because those things are "an excuse" but because recognising these things early enough with the right support can lead to much better coping mechanisms than dissociation and distracting yourself on a screen. What about the other parent, what if they had been offered support to say you don't need to put up with a partner like this, relationships should be supportive? Where did they even learn that a relationship like that was normal/OK? Again look at mental health and ND conditions, their own options in life? I know you can't force people to accept help if they don't want it, and obviously you can't turn back time but I do think if people receive support at an early enough point in their life they can end up doing better than this. Those systems have been missing or failing for decades and they are actively getting worse. I don't wish to say that individuals aren't responsible for their own choices in life, but when you have a pattern that is affecting innocent children then I think playing the blame game is pointless, it might make you feel better to point at the parents and say "It's all their fault, they made bad choices" and it might even be true, but how does that help the next Chloe? I don't think somehow other parents in that situation are going to see/hear and be caused to change their own behaviour. You can trace the patterns back though, because they are predictable, and find the point before somebody becomes so jaded they won't accept outside advice or help. Because there are countless parents like Chloe's parents. And countless adults who are future-Chloe's-parents. And countless teens and children who are heading up that path too. It's not that difficult to trace the warning signs, and it's much more effective to help earlier in the process. It's just that if you're someone funding social care and you have to choose between the child who is being starved and beaten vs a teenager who is socially awkward and doesn't know how to interact with others, it's really obvious where the resources should be directed to. Even if the socially awkward teen grows up into a very limited adult who doesn't know how to have a supportive relationship or support their children. So the cycle perpetuates basically forever (not to mention that the child who is now safe from their abusive parent is still traumatised from being starved and beaten. But because there are more children at more immediate risk they are now classed as "safe" and not top of the list for support any more.)