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"Children in Canada’s foster care homes have gone weeks without being able to see their parents in person and plans for safe reunions are still uncertain," says this article from Reuters. “'I don’t know how I can be deemed an essential worker, but I’m not an essential parent,' said a British Columbia father of two who works in the trades. 'I can go back to work, but I can’t see my kids?'”
This article from ProPublica offers guidance to parents in navigating the care of their children as lockdowns put in place due to the Coronavirus ease up. The authors "scoured the latest research and talked to seven infectious disease and public health experts to help think through the issues facing parents."
This opinion piece from The Hill discusses the "the rising wave of children who will enter the foster system" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns put in place to curb its spread. "Critical institutions, like schools, social services and community programs, that served as some kids’ only safety net no longer have the ability to catch them. And thousands of children locked at home with abusive, neglectful or unstable caregivers will invariably end up swept into the system," says the author.
This article describes some of the challenges facing young people as they age out of foster care during the COVID-19 pandemic and notes that several U.S. states have "announced plans to extend the aging-out guideline past the age of 21 for young adults in care during the pandemic."
"In California, this extension is valid through June 30, and young adults will still remain eligible for extended foster care even if they have lost their jobs or their education programs have been disrupted because of the pandemic. In Illinois, the 104 young adults in foster care who would be aging out of…
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. "Now, lawyers representing clients in ICE family detention say parents may be persuaded to separate from their children if they are worried about exposing them to COVID-19 in detention," says the article.
"Families Together, a group that…
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. "Frederick’s death – and the realities of trying to social distance in a facility packed with teenagers – highlights one of the many problems facing America’s foster care system amid the pandemic."
"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. The article includes an interview with a young woman, Jessica Overstreet, who grew up in foster care in the U.S. "Overstreet fears the new reality brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has made some foster kids’ already difficult…
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.
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. It tells the story of Sierra Martin, a 22 year-old woman from Washington state, USA who was carrying a baby for a couple in China. Just before Martin's due date, she received a message from the couple in in China that they were unable to travel to the US to pick up their baby due to lockdowns. The couple asked Martin if she would look after the baby until the couple is able to come to the US, to…
Child abuse intervention experts are sounding an alarm over a spike in abuse cases during coronavirus lockdowns. 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.