This article examines how the debate over abolishing or reforming the child welfare system has overlooked unaccompanied immigrant children served by ORR, calling for greater access to ORR data and more participatory research to inform policy and practice.
This briefing examines recent ORR policy changes, documents the barriers and extended custody times children face, presents expert psychological analysis of the harms caused, and proposes congressional solutions to improve outcomes for unaccompanied children in federal care.
This study analyzes how ORR shelter staff interpret and implement “best interest” standards for unaccompanied children, finding that narrow compliance measures may obscure children’s lived experiences and affect their perceived deservingness of legal relief in immigration court.
This brief summarizes the findings and key recommendations from a study examining immigration status documentation in California’s child welfare records for transition-age youth in foster care.
This policy brief analyzes administrative California child welfare data of undocumented immigrant youth in foster care, finding that immigration status data is often missing and that both U.S. citizens and undocumented youth were more likely to have transition plans than legal residents, highlighting needs for better services and data collection.
This resource reviews key considerations and recommendations on how child protection agencies can address the immigration needs of non-citizen children in foster care.
This article explores the implications of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts on the millions of U.S. citizen children living with undocumented family members, and the state and local child welfare systems that may serve them.
This article explores the perspectives of 65 human service workers in ORR-contracted programs across four states on how they understand the policies that shape care for unaccompanied children and the challenges that exist.
This report details the efforts of ORR to address recommendations related to its role in caring for unaccompanied children, which were identified in recent GAO reports.
This report and advocacy brief detail the findings of a study examining family reunification policies and practices for unaccompanied children in federal custody and provide recommendations related to the care environment, ORR family finding and placement procedures, and follow-up supports for reunited families.
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