NYC

After earlier pleas to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) went unanswered, advocates for young adults in foster care are urging support for legislation that would extend housing and financial support beyond the current age limit of 21 during the coronavirus pandemic.

When she turned 21 last year, seven years after entering foster care in New York City, Jeanette Rivera suddenly found herself fending for herself — and her three young children.  “They didn’t wait to make sure that I was ready to be on my own, they didn’t make sure I had food, that my bills were paid or that I even understood how to pay my portion of my rent,” Rivera said.

As New York enters its third month of sheltering at home, mental health counselors serving vulnerable children and families in the foster care system are racing to adapt their tried-and-true methods to a virtual connection.

When Orlando first landed in New York in January, the 18-year-old dreamed of a life of independence and joining the heroic firefighters of the FDNY. He had completed high school in Silicon Valley last year through a special education plan and trained in handling hazardous materials.

Eric Joseph always made sure the kids at Merrick House started their day off right. It didn’t matter that by the time they woke, he was finishing a 10-hour overnight shift at the Long Island home for children with mental health and behavioral challenges.

An anonymous donor has given $1.2 million to help some of New York’s poorest families buy food and necessities during the coronavirus shutdown — a windfall that staff at the New York Council of Nonprofits say comes without precedent. 

Last week, a 19-year-old with nowhere to stay in a city being ravaged by coronavirus made a desperate phone call to Trinity Place, a 10-bed shelter for LGBTQ youth on the Upper West Side. 

One of the most common criticisms of America’s child welfare system is that it too often ensnares impoverished parents, accusing them of neglect when the true issue is just the circumstances of poverty. 

Forty-two out of 59 New York neighborhoods have seen risks to children’s well-being increase overall since the previous year, according to a new report released by the Citizens’ Committee for Children (CCC), a nonprofit advocacy group.