This article from NPR accompanies a brief radio segment highlighting the difficulties faced by families with children in foster care during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the suspension of in-person visits between parents and their children. "I'm usually feeding her, singing to her, playing with her, we were bonding," said one mother, Jessica, of her visits with her two year-old daughter in foster care. "It's like [the virus] snatched it away from me now."
"Because of the coronavirus outbreak," says the article, "New York City's courts are only hearing cases that are deemed an emergency or essential. That means Jessica's upcoming court appearance — when custody and visitation were supposed to be addressed — is now postponed for months. Services provided to families are also slowing down."