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Asian foster kids face housing instability and homelessness as young adultsAs part of the "Healing California" yearlong reporting project across ethnic media outlets in the state, AsAmNews features a story about housing instability and homelessness among Asian foster youth in California, the state with the highest number of foster placements in the country. A critical truth revealed in the report is that when these youth become young adults, specifically between the ages of 18 and 24, they age out of the foster care system and lose the benefits they once received as children. This transition significantly heightens their risk of homelessness, writes Jia H. Jung, a California Local News Fellow.
For the broader Asian community, which represents the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the country and has the largest percentage increase of any group entering homelessness, organizations are raising the alarm to demand that Asian foster youth be included in conversations about access to social services.
In the story readers meet Kim, a former foster care youth who experienced the challenges of this transition firsthand. When she entered foster care, she was placed with a single White foster mother in a rural area far from the life she knew in the Bay Area. Isolated in a mostly white high school, Kim faced verbal abuse and racist microaggressions from her foster mother, who discouraged her from embracing her Korean heritage. This resulted in migraines from the acute stress that Kim was facing, in addition to blurred vision.
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Black Breastfeeding Week aims to reclaim narrative and center stories for breastfeeding justiceCreated in 2012 by reproductive and maternal health experts, Black Breastfeeding Week is an annual awareness week that takes place between August 25 and August 31 and focuses on addressing disparities among Black women and the stigma associated with breastfeeding. As reported in Black Voice News, the disparities stem from several social and historical factors, including lack of knowledge about breastfeeding, inadequate support from health care institutions and stigma.
“[Black Breastfeeding Week] highlights the significance of Black breastfeeding because for so long and so often, our community has been told that we shouldn’t breastfeed or have been offered formula instead of actually being offered breastfeeding opportunities,” said Aiyana Davison, a certified nurse midwife and founder of The Village House. (Also, historically, enslaved mothers were forced to become wet nurses for their owners, pulling them away from breastfeeding their children, as cited in the Black Voice News story.)
In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examined that Black infants born in 2015, “... had a significantly lower rate of any breastfeeding at age 3 months (58%) than did white infants (72.7%).” The rate was also lower among infants at six months.
“I want folks to know that breastfeeding, just like labor and birth, is a normal physiological function of our bodies. We’re designed to feed our babies from ourselves. But also, I want people to feel uplifted in the methods and how they feed their baby because sometimes, for whatever reasons,” adds Davison.“Sometimes there are hiccups with breastfeeding, and it might not be as readily accessible, even though it seems easy access.”Read to learn how Black mothers and organizations across the Inland Empire are hosting events to commemorate the week here →
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Mpox update: What you need to know to stay safeA new strain of the mpox virus, clade Ib, raises concerns after the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency in Africa. This strain, which has emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has spread beyond the continent, with cases reported this month in Sweden and Thailand, according to TANTV Studios. Unlike the previous clade IIb strain, clade Ib shows higher mortality rates (up to 10%) and a greater potential for household transmission.
Epicenter NYC recently spoke with a local infectious disease expert about what communities should know. The risk factors remain high for men who have sex with men, particularly those with advanced or untreated HIV, according to Dr. Eric A. Meyerowitz, an infectious disease expert at Montefiore Medical Group.
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James Keovilayphone is the coaching manager at Beyond Emancipation (B:E), where he oversees a team that helps young adults transition out of foster care and work toward self-sufficiency. B:E remains the main hub and holder for independent housing navigation, education, and career coaching programs in Alameda County, California → Credit: Jia H. Jung via AsAmNews