The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Worsened Boston’s Homeless Children Epidemic
While social distancing is the best way to overcome the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, it is compounding the crisis faced by more than 20,000 children and parents in Boston teetering on the edge of homelessness or living in shelters, cars, and emergency rooms.
Sadly, the impact of short-term safety measures put in place to keep Boston residents healthy will have the hardest and longest-term impact on the nearly two thousand impoverished children and parents in our care. While the coronavirus clearly doesn’t discriminate against people by race or religion, it will do more harm to the homeless and the poor.
Those working in service jobs will be the first to be cut in our temporary economic downturn and will not have adequate sick leave for themselves or enough funds to care for their homebound children. In fact, a significant percentage of the parents we serve became homeless as a result of medical, employment or childcare issues.
FamilyAid Boston is doing everything possible to assure the health and safety of the children and families that we serve at significant additional costs. Families have already begun to experience lost wages and the children in our care no longer have after school programs available to them. Additionally, many children in our care are medically compromised and have been asked to no longer participate in school or community activities.
As a result, FamilyAid Boston is providing additional financial resources to our families to help make ends meet. We are providing food, supplies, and educational materials for children who no longer have access to school or community programs, and our case managers are spending additional time working with families during this trying time.
Due to these unprecedented circumstances, we need your support now more than ever to continue to shelter, feed, and care for the children and families in our shelters and housing.
Please open your heart to these children and parents who have no one else to support them in this time of great need. Together we can care for one another during these trying times.
We will continue to update you on what we are doing for the children and parents in our care as events continue to unfold.
Wishing you and yours good health.
In gratitude,
Larry Seamans
President
