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.
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Written by Kristen Jackson, this article discusses the use of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status as a form of immigration relief for immigrant youth.
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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 ExampleProvides 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 CFRThis 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 ReportA 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 PresentationCompiles legislation enacted by Congress regarding immigration and naturalization law.
Review LawThis study by Appleseed explores the extent to which the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008 has improved the screening and protection of unaccompanied Mexican minors at the border and after repatriation and provides recommendations for improving treatment of these minors and compliance with the TVPRA.
Read Full ReportUsing Texas as a case study, this report examines undocumented children in the child welfare system and discusses why a blanket policy to send them home will not work. It also discusses how to improve the process through which these children can obtain legal residency. Finally, the article explains how federal immigration and child welfare law should be aligned to ensure that the federal government provides states the necessary financial support to care for this vulnerable population.
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