Child welfare professionals are increasingly encountering complex immigration-related situations as they work to support children and families in their communities. Navigating these issues can be difficult, requiring not only an understanding of child welfare practices but also familiarity with immigration processes, legal considerations, and culturally responsive approaches. This collection of resources is designed to serve as a practical starting point, bringing together a range of accessible resources to help child welfare professionals better understand the experiences of immigrant children and families, and to strengthen their ability to support them effectively. Whether you are seeking legal guidance, community-based support, or tools for effective communication, this information can help to strengthen your ability to advocate for and support the well-being of all the children and families you serve.
Resources
Working With Immigrant Families
Home Visiting as a Bridge: Supporting Resettled Families Through Transition & Growth Chapin Hall
Chapin Hall
This webinar explores practical social supports and engagement strategies for working with resettled families, featuring findings from a recent project that centers the lived experiences of dual-language families in home visiting programs—communities that remain deeply underrepresented in early childhood, home visiting, and mental health research.
Promoting the Rights of Immigrant Children Through State and Local Action
Children’s Rights
This brief highlights concrete steps state and local leaders can take to protect immigrant children and support families, including the critical but often overlooked issue of how these policies can push children into the family policing system when parents are detained or deported. Three pillars structure the brief, protecting children's access to essential services, upholding meaningful legal protections and rights, and keeping children safely within families communities and is available in both Spanish and English.
Know Your Rights Immigration Guide for Fosters
Foster Advocates
This critical Foster informed guide breaks down immigration information for MN Fosters in care as well as documentation and rights post foster care.
Protecting the Best Interests of Non-Citizen Youth in CHIPS Proceedings: Key Updates for Minnesota Child Services Workers
CASCW
Brought to you in partnership with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and The Advocates for Human Rights this pre-recorded webinar discusses the importance of child services workers in the state of Minnesota having a process in place to screen and make timely referrals for representation at the outset of any CHIPS proceeding.
Minnesota-based Organizations and Resources
National Organizations and Resources
ABA Center on Children and the Law
Acacia Center for Justice
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP)
Adoptee Rights Law Center
Adoptees United Inc.
Advocates for Human Rights
American Bar Association (ABA)
American Immigration Council
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Association of Legal Administrators
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS)
Casey Family Programs
Center for Immigration and Refugee Accompaniment (CIRA)
Center on Immigration and Child Welfare Initiative (CIMMCW)
Chapin Hall
Child Advocacy Clinic, Rutgers Law School (CAC)
Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence (CWICE)
Children’s Holistic Representation Project (CHIRP)
Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA)
Children’s Rights
Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
Immigration Law Help
International Social Service USA
Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
National Immigrant Justice Center
Race Forward
Transactional Records Clearinghouse (TRAC)
Women’s Refugee Commission
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
Emergency Planning
- ABA Center on Children and the Law, Immigration Referral Tool
- CIRA, Power of Attorney/Parental Delegation
- ILRC, Step-by-Step Family Preparedness Plan
- KIND, CARE Connect, Assess, Respond and Educate Intervention Tool Kit
- Women’s Refugee Commission, Detained or Deported: What About My Children. Parental Rights Toolkit
- Women’s Refugee Commission, Resources for Families Facing Deportation and Separation
Policies and Practices
- ABA, Impact of Parent’s Immigration Status on Child Welfare Cases: Guiding principles from Court State Case Law
- Adoptees United, Adoptees Citizenship Clinic
- Casey Family Programs, A Safe and Permanent Family for Every Youth
- MPI, Immigrant Families and Child Welfare Systems: Emerging Needs and Promising Policies