Watch: No Extra Resources for Children Orphaned by Covid

By Sarah Varney and Jason Kane, PBS NewsHour

December 1, 2021

<br /> <span class="byline">Sarah Varney, Kaiser Well being Information and Jason Kane, PBS NewsHour</span></p> <p>The variety of U.S. deaths from covid-19 has <a target="_blank" href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" rel="noopener">surpassed 778,000</a>. Left behind are tens of 1000’s of kids — some orphaned — after their mother and father or a grandparent who cared for them died. On this report, co-produced with PBS NewsHour, KHN correspondent Sarah Varney seems to be on the dangers these grieving kids face to their well-being, each within the brief and long run. No concerted authorities effort exists to assist the estimated 140,000 kids who’ve misplaced a dad or mum — and even to establish them.</p> <p>Betty Hamilton of Eastman, Georgia, took in her 5 grandsons, ages 4 to 10, after their father died immediately of covid in August. They’d already misplaced their mother in a automotive crash years in the past. With no monetary assist from the federal government, besides meals stamps and Medicaid, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/courtneys-boys?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer" rel="noopener">she struggles</a> to supply the fundamentals: protecting them fed and clothed as they develop.</p> <p>However for these children and numerous others, the unaddressed emotional wants appear the best threat. Traumatic occasions may be “biologically embedded,” says one knowledgeable, and their unresolved grief and despair can hang-out them for all times, leaving them economically deprived.</p> <p>Copy HTML