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By Nikita Stewart
Photographs by Gabriela Bhaskar
For the Fryson brothers, the year had started on a hopeful note; despite everything, they were reunited with their mother, Beatrice McMillian, after years in foster care.
Ms. McMillian had been helped to rent an apartment so she could leave a homeless shelter.The older brother, Kasaun, went into adulthood, ran for Whole Foods and attended a network college.
The younger brother, EJ, lived with his mother and did well in high school.Then, in April, Ms. McMillian died of Covid-19.Su death shattered everything the family circle had earned.Fryson, 22, went to court to talk to his 16-year-old brother’s father and prevent him from returning to foster care.”He wishes someone, and I will be that person, ” said Mr. Fryson.
When the coronavirus pandemic killed thousands of other people in New York City, it orphaned an unknown number of young people. At least 8 young people have been placed in foster homes because their parents died from the virus, according to the Municipal Administration of Children’s Services.
The total number is probably higher. Children from families with more cash or larger systems sometimes face guardianship disorders in private.
The sudden loss has led some young adults like Mr. Fryson to assume the unforeseen role of surrogate father, to suffer to keep together what remains of his circle of relatives.
“Your physical home is gone, your emotional home is gone.Then they’ll put you up with something you’ve never met in your life,” Karen J said.Freedman, founder and CEO of Lawyers for Children, which represents foster care youth, adding some whose parents died in a pandemic.”It’s a scary procedure for any child.”
Jessica Barrera, 16, faced with the prospect of wasting her house this spring; his father died of tuberculosis in March, while the virus was exploding in New York; Jessica’s mother, Maria Arizaga, who worked in a bakery, was worried about how to take care of Jessica and her older brother, Luis.
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