by Kelly Albinak Kribs, Esq. & Shaina Simenas, LMSW, MPH
In 2022, the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights launched the Technical Assistance Program (TAP) to advance the best interests of immigrant children by offering technical assistance to advocates and services providers serving noncitizen children and families in state child welfare systems. Stakeholders in these systems are less experienced in serving immigrant families and in understanding how the U.S. immigration system can shape their lives. This lack of knowledge and resources can have a detrimental impact on children’s well-being, immigration cases, and connection to family, language, and culture. As a result, noncitizen children have inequitable access to services, family unity, and ultimately, to permanency. The aggressive immigration enforcement happening around the country today makes these gaps even more critical.
Based on our first-hand experience working with child welfare stakeholders serving noncitizen children involved in the child welfare system, and children in immigrant families, we have compiled a list of best practices and those that should be avoided. Many of these are discussed more in-depth elsewhere in this article.
Do:
- Put systems in place to ensure early identification of non-citizen children in foster care.
- Provide non-citizen children with immigration legal counsel to undergo a full legal screening for all possible relief options – not just Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). You are not preparing a young person to achieve permanency of placement if you fail to explore all possible pathways they may have to lawful immigration status.
- Appoint one or two staff to hold immigration expertise and support cases involving children in immigrant families.
- Allow the use of WhatsApp for caseworkers to find and communicate with children’s families, whether they are in or outside of the United States.
- Engage in active efforts to locate family members outside the country who may not know how to affirmatively reach out to child welfare stakeholders.
- Ensure language access so that children and parents are meaningfully engaged in court proceedings, and in all communication with child welfare stakeholders that take place outside of court.
- Place children with kin regardless of immigration status and support these kinship caregivers with funds and services to strengthen family stability.
- Increase training around cultural awareness and sensitivity.
- Implement trauma-informed practices that acknowledge the unique stressors and traumas that immigrant children and families may face.
- Consider whether guardianship is an appropriate alternative to termination of parental rights (TPR) when parents are unable to care for children because they are facing deportation, or are outside the U.S., but are otherwise fit and loving caregivers who wish to remain connected to their children.
- Connect parents and kin caregivers to immigration counsel for their own immigration needs when that could be the main barrier to placement. For example, when the parent needs to work and earn an income to be considered stable to receive the child, but needs support to apply for work authorization. This is critical to support placement stability.
Don’t:
- Share information about noncitizen children and families with U.S. immigration officials unless compelled by law.
- Make assumptions. In many instances, actions of a noncitizen child or family member that could be interpreted negatively are better understood when viewed in the context of the cultural, linguistic, and logistical hurdles that they face when engaging a child welfare system.
- Place youth in foster care settings where caregivers don’t speak their language and don’t make efforts to keep the child connected to their language and culture.
- Fail to locate a noncitizen child’s kin for immigrant children, even when families are located outside the United States.
- Discriminate against immigrant kin due to immigration status, language, or class.
- Rely on Google Translate for language interpretation. Instead, have access to certified language interpreters.
- Limit collaboration between child welfare agency staff and immigration attorneys.
- Push for adoption with non-kin family when kin are available and willing.
Many noncitizen children will continue to live in the United States after their parents are deported. Most children will be cared for by relatives or friends in accordance with their parents’ wishes, but some will end up in much worse situations. The child welfare system is involved in cases of abuse and neglect, but is not well-equipped to care for children who are separated from their parents due to immigration enforcement. State and local systems can help mitigate harm by making it easier for noncitizen relatives to come forward as caregivers, supporting international reunification where appropriate, providing immigration counsel, and improving cultural competence.
Kelly Albinak Kribs, Esq., is an attorney and Co-Director of the Technical Assistance Program at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. Contact: [email protected]
Shaina Simenas, LMSW, MPH, is a Co-Director of the Technical Assistance Program at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights. Contact: [email protected]