Standing with Immigrant Children in Detention

Immigrant and Refugee Support

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Our immigration system does not consider immigrant children as children, or make decisions in their best interests. In 2004 we were created to address this problem and expanded our reach to LA in 2016. Our LA office serves children detained in LA and throughout California. They work with some of the most vulnerable children from Central America, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Angola. When children are apprehended without a parent or legal guardian, they are declared unaccompanied, transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and placed in removal proceedings. In 2023, California ORR facilities have almost doubled to meet the demand of incoming immigrant children, most of whom have to defend themselves in court-with or without a lawyer-in adversarial proceedings designed for adults. Since the s U.S. does not apply a "best interests of the child" standard, immigration officials do not have to consider the impact of their decisions on a child's well-being.

Through our Los Angeles Child Advocate Program (LA-CAP), we aim for immigrant children's best interests to be considered in all decisions affecting their safety and well-being, including decisions related to their custody and immigration cases. We accomplish this by pairing the most vulnerable unaccompanied children in federal detention with Child Advocates-similar to guardians ad litem-to accompany them through their immigration proceedings and to advocate on their behalf. We are assigned to pregnant and parenting youth, children with disabilities, children who identify as LGBTQIA+, tender-age children, and victims of trafficking. Child Advocates meet weekly with children to learn their stories, wishes, and needs over time. With this information, they work alongside Young Center attorneys and social workers to craft recommendations that consider the child's best interests and are grounded in our Child Rights Paradigm-which are submitted to immigration judges and others with decision-making power over the child's case. We advocate for children to be quickly placed with family or in family-like settings outside of ORR custody, to have access to the support and services they need to thrive while detained and once released, and for their individual identities, culture, language, trauma history, and wishes to be heard and respected by anyone making decisions on their behalf.

The Young Center's goal is to change the immigration system so children in immigration proceedings are recognized as children, and their best interests are made a part of the decision-making process. We will know we have been successful when every child in federal detention is assigned a Child Advocate, and when the immigration system treats children as distinct from adults by considering their best interests in every decision made throughout their case. Long-term success will look like immigrant children in LA County having increased access to support services, family unity, culture, identity, and overall well-being. Short-term success will look like the following goals being achieved: - 100 unaccompanied and separated children paired with independent Child Advocates (including new appointments and continuing cases) - Two Child Advocate Trainings conducted per year - 40 New Independent Child Advocate Volunteers trained

Our LA office has served 100s of kids since opening in 2016, but in the last year, we served 113 children, provided 1837 services to those children, and had an 83% acceptance rate from our recommendations. Below is a story highlighting LA-CAP's impact: C came to the U.S. with his older brother fleeing violence in their community. Upon arrival, immigration officials separated the brothers, placing C in ORR and his adult brother in ICE. C was devastated by this. While detained, ORR attempted to provide him with psychosocial support but were unsuccessful because the facility lacked language interpretation. Meanwhile, C's brother was released to their older sister, who lives in the U.S., and we were assigned to C's case. Since ORR could not provide C with the appropriate mental healthcare he needed, we advocated he be immediately released to family, for his health and safety. Thanks to our advocacy C is now with his siblings and starting to recover from multiple traumas.