Thread by @NBCNews

When Cindy Dawkins, a single mother in Florida, died of Covid in August, leaving behind four children, no one from the hospital or the city called, her kids said. They wouldn’t have known what to do if it weren’t for a family friend. #NBCNewsThread (1/8) nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2…

“You’re not talking about adults that are losing someone,” Dawkins’ oldest child, Jenny Burrows, says. “You’re talking about kids who don’t know how to navigate through the world, yet they lost the person, or one of the people, that are meant to help them.” (2/8)

Two years into the pandemic, the number of children who have lost a parent or other in-home caregiver to Covid across the U.S. is estimated to exceed 200,000, and families and child advocates say identifying and assisting these kids should be a priority. (3/8)

“In my mind, it is a national health emergency,” says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “If a child has lost a parent, someone needs to show up at that doorstep right away — and I mean right away.“ (4/8)

In an effort to assist families who have lost someone to COVID, FEMA says it has given out over $1.8B in reimbursement for funeral expenses to more than 285,000 people and says it is working to raise awareness about the benefit, particularly in underserved communities. (5/8)

Prof. Susan Hillis believes the best way to track children who have lost a caregiver is to add a box on adults’ death certificates that asks whether there are children under 18 in the home. If the box is checked, a public health nurse or case worker should go to evaluate. (6/8)

“Getting the help in time can mean the difference in whether that child has PTSD,” Hillis says, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, or if a child develops severe depression or anxiety. (7/8)

A White House official said federal efforts to reach bereaved children will likely be conducted through state and local leaders and community-based organizations but declined to provide a timeline. (8/8)