The US News news website recently posted an article on about 200,000 children in the United States who have become “new crown orphans”, saying that the United States has not responded in time to deal with this situation, “The United States is failing the new crown orphans.”
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 200,000 American children have lost at least one primary caregiver. As Tim Requarth writes in The Atlantic, the loss of both parents is “one of the most unstable events in life,” so the consequences can be severe.
Orphans are at greater risk of substance abuse, falling into poverty, suicide and other negative consequences. In some cases, children who lose both parents or children in single-parent families lose their primary caregiver, leaving them orphaned.
In response, Susan Hillis, co-chair of the Global Reference Group on Children Affected by COVID-19, said that orphans do not come and go like a virus.
Children from all identity backgrounds are affected, but low-income, non-white, single-parent families in the United States are the most affected. In Requat’s view, “the United States did not respond in time to this situation.”
According to reports, the U.S. federal government has not come up with a centralized approach to the issue of COVID-19 orphans, and the recent memo released by the White House has been vague. However, children’s growth is not suspended when adults are still thinking about what to do.