Better Care Network highlights recent news pieces related to the issue of children's care around the world. These pieces include newspaper articles, interviews, audio or video clips, campaign launches, and more.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
"The [UK] government could face legal action after ministers used the coronavirus crisis to remove protections for children in care," says this article from the Huffington Post.
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.
In this segment, CBS News' Jericka Duncan shares the accounts of some child welfare workers who recorded video diaries of the lengths they must go to meet with kids and families while observing health precautions.