The Immigration Court Efficiency and Children’s Court Act look to create more child-friendly immigration court environments for migrant children who must otherwise often navigate the immigration system alone.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Southwest Key Programs, the largest provider of housing to unaccompanied minors, due to accusations of sexual abuse and harassment of the minors in its care.
Many conservative politicians are seeking to overturn the 1982 Plyler v. Doe decision that has ensured the right to free education regardless of immigration status for over 40 years.
A revamped FAFSA application process prevented parents without a SSN from participating, leaving the future of education for many students in mixed-status families in jeopardy.
New analyses from the Pew Research Center answer key questions about the immigrant population in the U.S.
A Tennessee nonprofit is in need of families to help foster unaccompanied minors until they’re reunited with their families.
On June 14th, 2024, Rutgers Law School and Casey Family Programs hosted a convening on legal access and addressing the immigration needs of foster children. The event brought together agency leaders, children’s attorneys, practitioners, and other stakeholders from nine jurisdictions with large numbers of immigrant children (AZ, NV, CO, CT, DC, ME, NC, TN, and WA). The goal was to begin a dialogue around best practices, innovations, and areas for improvement in serving immigrant children in the child welfare system, especially with respect to meeting their legal needs.
The event featured three panels. The first was a powerful lived experience panel, “Empowerment through Advocacy: Immigrant Youth Rights,” during which three youth shared about their experiences in the child welfare system, including the importance of legal representation and what is needed from caseworkers. A second panel, “Differing Models for Providing Legal Representation,” highlighted various approaches to providing legal representation to children in custody from New Jersey, New York City and the Children’s Law Center of California.
The third panel, “Aligning the Needs of Immigrant Children and Families with Child Welfare Principles,” was moderated by CICW Director, Dr. Kristina Lovato. This panel discussed the core principles of child welfare – safety, permanency, wellbeing – and highlighted some key tools and model approaches to help address children’s immigration needs. Rachel Konrad with Casey Family Programs shared about the importance of immigration legal supports and a new Immigration Referral Tool for caseworkers and child welfare attorneys. Meredith Pindar with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families discussed how NJ has enabled undocumented family members to become licensed as foster parents. Emily Steiner with the Arizona Department of Child Safety shared an agency perspective on how Arizona DCS is addressing barriers and challenges to serving immigrant children and families.
Convening participants also had the opportunity to engage in breakout sessions and discussions on opportunities and next steps toward enhancing engagement, service provision, and legal access for immigrant children in foster care. We extend our gratitude to Rutgers Law School, Casey Family Programs, and our group of steering committee members for all their hard work in creating this opportunity to bring folks together to dialogue and brainstorm on improving experiences and outcomes for immigrant children who touch the child welfare system.
This three-part webinar series will review the basic of obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for children who have experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect by one or both parents.
This report highlights shortcomings in current practices surrounding the treatment of Mexican unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border and offers recommendations for improvement.
This brief reviews the outcomes an evaluation of USCRI’s Home Study and Post-Release Services programs and provides recommendations on moving toward an evidence-based national model for Home Study and Post-Release Services for unaccompanied children.
© 2024 CICW.