U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently "began distributing a form in all three of its family detention centers that would allow parents to apply for their minor children to be released" to be placed with family members, sponsors the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to this article from NBC News.

This article from USA Today shares the story of a foster care group home in the US state of Michigan where nearly 40 youth living at the "residential facility that serves at-risk teen boys," along with nine staff members, all tested positive for Coronavirus, one boy dying of complications from COVID-19.

This article from the Chronicle of Social Change shines the light on a new pilot program in a county of the U.S. state of California that will provide former foster youth, ages 21 to 24, with $1,000 monthly payments for up to a year.

This article from the Guardian describes the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international surrogacy arrangements, including the parents, surrogates, and the babies they are or were carrying.

"Foster children have enormous challenges even in the best of times. The coronavirus pandemic threatens them with even greater turmoil, isolating them from adult supervisors and friends and making it harder to move on to new lives — either with biological or adoptive families, or as newly independent adults," says this article from the Associated Press.

"As tensions and challenges from the nationwide quarantine increase, the usual channels that might pick up on abuse are not working," says this article from the Bogotá Post in Colombia.

Unaccompanied children and young people in the U.S. who would normally have been allowed to live with relatives while they awaited decisions on their immigration cases are now being expelled from the country "under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus pandemic, with 600 minors expelled in April alone," according to this article from the Guardian.

In this post from UNICEF Australia's blog, UNICEF Australia Program Manager for Early Childhood Development, Alice Hall describes some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, including the child protection implications.

"A new study predicts that demand for foster care is likely to rise during the coronavirus pandemic, as households struggle with the economic impacts of bans and restrictions," says this article from SBS News.

This article from Slate tells the story of Salvador and Rosita, a father and daughter who were separated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shortly after arriving in the United States.