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"Twenty-seven migrant children in government custody had tested positive for coronavirus as of Monday, according to the latest update from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency charged with their care," says this article from CNN. There are approximately 2,500 children in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to the article, and 87 have been tested for coronavirus. However, notes the article, "Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that oversees some shelters for unaccompanied migrant children, confirmed 37 "positive…
In this article for Truthout, Michelle Chan describes her own experience of having her son removed from her care and placed in foster care and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families like hers. "Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in most U.S. foster children losing their visits indefinitely, with little effort by child welfare agencies to reduce negative impacts on the well-being of foster children or on their families’ ability to reunify," says Chan. "Foster youth are being abandoned by the state during this time of crisis. Think about how difficult a time this is for…
This article from PBS News Hours describes the concerns of child welfare experts that the COVID-19 crisis will lead to higher rates of child abuse in the US.
"The increased stress we're seeing in families due to the virus can increase children's risk of abuse at the hands of their loved ones," says this article from CNN. Furthermore, "children who are being abused or neglected are more likely to go unnoticed without teachers and others to help them." The article offers advice for talking with children, coping with stress, and reaching out and maintaining community.
This article from the New York Times reviews how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting surrogacy, foster care, and adoption in the United States.
This article from ABC News describes the impacts the COVID-19 crisis has had on families in the US whose children are in foster care, including the halting of family reunifications. "The coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent shutdown has put family reunification hearings across the country on hold as courts are either closed or operating on a limited basis, threatening to create a backlog of custody cases that could delay family reunifications for thousands of children," says the article.
Child protection experts are worried that school closures and self-isolation efforts in place to hamper the spread of the coronavirus in the US will put children at greater risk for abuse and violence, according to this article from ABC News. Some states have reported receiving fewer calls to child abuse hotlines since the stay-at-home measures were put in place.
“We are concerned about this significant drop in calls, particularly because children and youth who may be experiencing abuse and neglect are now home all day and isolated,” said Minna Castillo Cohen, director of the Colorado…
In this piece for the Chronicle of Social Change, Fred Wulczyn - a senior research fellow at Chapin Hall and the director of its Center for State Child Welfare Data - discusses the potential long-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the U.S. child welfare system. "The list of concerns starts with mortality, and whether children lose one or both of their parents. More pernicious over the longer term is the economic impact the virus is having, and the strain those changes induce in already fragile families," says Wulczyn. The piece also explores "how we prepare…
This article from the Huffington Post describes the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on care leavers in Canada. “It’s extremely hard right now,” said one care leaver. “No one has checked in with me. It’s hard to get my cheques because I have to pick them up in person. I don’t even really know what I’m supposed to be doing.”
As of the publication of this article, Ontario was the only province to announce a moratorium on aging out of care in response to the COVID-19 crisis. "The new pandemic protocol will be that Ontario youth about to turn 18 and…
The Saskatchewan Youth In Care and Custody Network (SYICCN) is calling for assistance for children in government care to be kept in place until services return to pre-coronavirus levels, even if young people "age out" of those services, according to this article from CBC News. "Nobody planned for a pandemic like this," said Richard Rothenburger, outreach coordinator for SYICCN. "These rock solid transition plans that are in place don't have concessions for this and that's why we're asking the government to really just dig in and find the gaps."