Overview of Child Welfare Immigration Policies and Programs
First Focus (October 5, 2012)
Presented by Yali Lincroft (First Focus) South Carolina Department of Social Services and Court Staff, Columbia, SC, October 2012
View PresentationPresented by Yali Lincroft (First Focus) South Carolina Department of Social Services and Court Staff, Columbia, SC, October 2012
View PresentationSigned into law October 1, 2012, the Reuniting Immigrant Families Act prioritizes keeping children with their families and out of the public child welfare system when possible. SB1064 authorizes more time for child welfare agencies to find and reunite detained and deported parents with their children or find placement with relatives, regardless of their immigration status. It requires the California Department of Social Services to provide guidance on filing special immigrant relief options and for working with foreign consulates regarding the custody of children of deported parents.
View BillPresented 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 PresentationIn 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.
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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 ExampleThis 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 ReportThis 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 ReportThis is a national benchbook for juvenile and family court judges on various immigration related issues including: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, adoption, VAWA, U Visas, divorce, child custody, immigration consequences of delinquency and crime, and immigration enforcement.
Read the full textThis quantitative analysis found that parents with higher levels of legal vulnerability report a greater impact of detention/deportation on the family environment and children’s well-being. It also provides practice and policy implications.
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