Child Welfare Systems’ Response to Immigrant Children and Families: Indicators of Advancement and Emerging Challenges
18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect (April 2012)
Presented by Alan Dettlaff (Jane Addams College of Social Work), Yali Lincroft (First Focus), Emily Butera (Women’s Refugee Commission), & Jennifer Podkul (Women’s Refugee Commission) 18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Washington DC, April 2012
View PresentationThe Flow of Unaccompanied Children Through the Immigration System- A Resource for Practitioners, Policy Makers, and Researchers
Vera Institute of Justice (March 2012)
In light of the complexity of the legal process for unaccompanied children detained by U.S. immigration, this report provides a thorough overview of the system as a resource for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working to help these children.
Access Resource
Special Status Seekers: Through the Underused SIJS Process, Immigrant Juveniles May Obtain Legal Status
Los Angeles Lawyer (February 2012)
Written by Kristen Jackson, this article discusses the use of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status as a form of immigration relief for immigrant youth.
Access Article
A Child Welfare / Immigration Case Example
(2012)
This case example involves an actual case and questions that were posed to the Immigrant Children’s Lawyers Network. Comments were provided by a dependency attorney, two retired child welfare agency directors, and an immigration/child welfare consultant.
Read the Case ExampleSpecial Immigrant Status for Certain Aliens Declared Dependent on a Juvenile Court
Special Immigrant Juvenile, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 8, § 204.11
Government Publishing Office (2012)
Provides guidance on the process for establishing an immigrant child’s eligibility for an immigrant visa when the child has been placed in foster care and is declared dependent by a juvenile court.
Read CFRShattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System
Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation (formerly the Applied Research Center) (November 2011)
This extensive report is the first national investigation on threats to families when immigration enforcement and the child welfare system intersect. It explores the extent to which children in foster care are prevented from uniting with their detained or deported parents and the failures of the child welfare system to adequately work to reunify these families.
Access Full ReportDisappearing Parents: A Report on Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System
Southwest Institute for Research on Women & Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona (2011)
This report describes families entangled in two vast bureaucracies – the federal immigration enforcement system and the state child welfare system. The report is based on over a year of research, including over fifty surveys and twenty interviews with juvenile court judges, attorneys representing children and parents in juvenile court, and case workers in Child Protective Services.
Read Full ReportProperly Assessing Immigrant Children & Their Families to Best Meet the Complex Needs While in the System
Ken Borelli, Consultant, Immigration and Child Welfare/BRYCS & Coauthor of SIJS Legislation; Lara Bruce, MSW, Program Specialist, American Humane Association (March 2011)
A presentation from the National CASA Conference March 19th – 22nd, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois, summarizing the process of child welfare system involvement through the lens of the experience of immigrant children.
View PresentationFederal Immigration and Nationality Law (United States Code Title 8, Chapter 12, Cornell University, Legal Information Institute)
Cornell University/Legal Information Institute (2011)
Compiles legislation enacted by Congress regarding immigration and naturalization law.
Review Law