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 KQED describes how the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted efforts to reunite families separated by U.S. immigration policy.
Rep. Patricia Williams of the US state of Florida, a foster parent herself, is calling on the governor of Florida and the state Department of Children and Families "to institute a moratorium on young people aging out of the foster care system, to help them avoid the two-pronged health and economic crises of COVID-19 without state support," according to this article from the Miami Times.
“If the government takes a kid out of their family, we make a commitment to that child that their life will be better because of the government interaction,” said James McIntyre - who "spent 17 years in the custody of the Illinois Department of Family services" - as quoted in this article from the Nation.
"There has been slow but consistent growth in private foster care placements [in Ireland] and an increase in the number of companies in this market," writes Patrick Costello in this opinion piece for TheJournal.ie. "While these companies plug a gap in services, a gap that can leave children at risk, ultimately they lead to negative outcomes across the system," Costello argues.
"Trump administration officials ejected nearly 9,000 unaccompanied migrant children from the U.S. without court hearings — taking no precautions to protect them from traffickers," according to this article from the Huffington Post.
This article from BBC News tells the story of Emily, a young woman whose 9 children were removed from her care, and the journey to ensuring that her 10th child remained in her care after she gave birth.
"At least 8,800 migrant children who arrived at the southern border without their parents have been swiftly expelled from the country and denied U.S. refuge during the pandemic under an emergency policy," according to this article from CBS News.
According to this article from BBC News, the children's commissioner for England has called for a ban on placing under-18s in care in unregulated homes amid concerns over sexual and criminal exploitation.
"As an autistic care leaver, the hardest part of dealing with the Covid pandemic has been the neglect and lack of support I have experienced at my accommodation," writes Kerrie Portman in the Guardian.
"For untold numbers of women and children around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has meant a twofold threat: The risk of catching a deadly virus coupled with the peril of being locked in confined spaces with increasingly violent abusers," says this article from the Washington Post.