Hidden public health crisis led to alarming increase in orphanhood in US and globally, family-based care critical, experts say
Nearly 3 million children in the United States have lost a parent or grandparent caregiver over the past two decades, revealing what experts are calling a hidden public health crisis. The scale of orphanhood, driven largely by drug overdoses and other “deaths of despair,” mirrors similar trends in countries such as Colombia, Brazil and across parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
