COVID-19 and the orphaned immigrant children

During this time of the pandemic, we often read about heartbreaking stories affecting immigrants and how their lives have been upended by this crisis. Filipino doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals working in various parts of the world have been mostly impacted, both in the number of positive cases and deaths. I personally know a few friends who work in hospitals who have been tested positive for COVID-19 and have expressed their fears for their lives and for their families. Even after surviving the disease, almost all of them are still feeling the not-so-desirable post-infection complications.

We also learn from the news of other immigrants who unfortunately succumbed to the dreaded disease. What I find the most gut-wrenching of these stories is the death of one or both parents, leaving young and innocent children behind. And these are immigrant children who do not have other family members around or who do not have any other available resources for support. Some of these immigrants fled from their home countries out of fear for their lives and were admitted to the US as refugees or asylees. Without their parents, their children would have to fend on their own as they navigate their way into instant and forced adulthood. In almost all cases, their immigration status in the US is tied up with their parents. Most of them do not even know where their immigration papers are kept or what is the status of their case since it was their parents who took charge of this matter.

I hope the government will look into this situation and set up an assistance center for these kinds of cases. There has to be a structure that needs to be in place in situations where the child of a COVID-19 patient is the only remaining relative of the patient. Children must be involved in the decision-making process for their parents, especially when it involves life-and-death issues such as intubation and discontinuing life-saving measures. Community support groups such as church-based ministries, ethnic circles, consulates, and other family advocates must be able to provide assistance to these orphaned children especially at this time when physical distancing and other isolation protocols are being observed by almost all government and non-government offices. In my practice alone, I have received calls from individuals who act as “guardians” or “temporary parents” of these kids who need assistance on legal issues such as extending their stay here in the US, or probating the will of their parents, or preventing evictions by their landlords, and even as simple as notarizing death certificates.

After all this pandemic is done, the world will see a tremendous number of orphaned children who will be left struggling if we do not create a comprehensive system for them right now. Care and support should be extended to help these children in answering their immediate physical and medical needs, as well as anticipating their long term well-being such as psychological and mental health, planning for their education and securing a stable financial future for them. Failing to do so will result in unimaginable, costly consequences.