In this brief radio segment from NPR's Morning Edition, Noel King talks to Sherry Lachman, ex-adviser to U.S. Vice President Biden and founder of Foster America, about the challenges ahead as hundreds of migrant children are separated from their families and sent to foster care throughout the United States. According to Lachman, these children become part of the federal foster care system, often being placed into "institutional foster care" facilities. "Separating a child from her family and placing her in foster care in the first place is like chemotherapy," says Lachman. "It's inherently toxic and damaging to the child so it should only be used in cases where it's absolutely necessary to protect the child. And, of course, the situation at the border is clearly not one of those cases." The federal foster care system is now wholly overwhelmed, according to Lachman.
