Mission Statement
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and state and federal law.
Young Center’s Work
The Young Center is a champion for the best interests of children who arrive in the United States on their own, from all corners of the world. We serve as trusted allies for these children while they are in deportation proceedings, advocating for their best interests, and standing for the creation of a dedicated children’s immigrant justice system that ensures the safety and well-being of every child.
Young Center attorneys and social workers, along with bilingual volunteers, are appointed as Child Advocate (guardian ad litem) by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Our role is to advocate for their best interests—from custody and release to the ultimate decision about whether the child will be allowed to remain in the U.S. Our goal is to change both immigration policy and practice so that immigrant children are recognized first as children and their best interests are considered in every decision.
Our goal is to change the immigration system so that children in immigration proceedings are recognized as children, and best interests are made a part of the decision making process.
Young Center’s History
Click the video to view Young Zhen’s story.
The Young Center was founded in Chicago in 2004. The charge was to develop a program to advocate for the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children—even though US immigration law does not recognize children as distinct from adults.
The program started small. Attorneys and social workers with experience in children’s rights and immigration law supervised bilingual volunteers—Child Advocates—who spoke the children’s languages. They met with the children while they were detained, accompanied them to immigration court and advocated for their best interests every step of the way.
In 2008, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. One short paragraph provides for the appointment of Child Advocates whose role is to advocate for the child’s best interests, the first mention of the best interests standard for immigrant children.
In 2009, the Young Center opened an office in Harlingen, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Judges, detention staff, attorneys, even ICE officials began asking for Child Advocates.
In 2013 Congress amended the law providing for expansion of the Child Advocate program. Today the Young Center has offices in Houston, San Antonio Phoenix, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, Harlingen, and Chicago.
Our Values
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We amplify the voices of the children and youth we serve and seek to uphold their right to self-determination. We center their wishes and well-being, along with their own vision for their family and future. We demand decision-makers see each child and youth for the unique individual they are and work to identify opportunities for them to assert their voice in decisions impacting their lives.
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We dare to fight for a just and humane immigration system through innovative advocacy grounded in interdisciplinary practice. As an organization, we demand accountability from systems and people in positions of power for the decisions they make and the harm they inflict on the children and families we serve. As individuals, we strive to face hard truths, learn from our mistakes, and commit to growth.
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We partner with others with compassion and strive to dismantle power dynamics inherent in our relationships. Our collaboration is grounded in mutual trust, connection, and respect. As we accompany children and families, we seek to de-center ourselves. As we accompany one another, we share in both the joys and the sorrows of the work advancing our mission.
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We empower others to show up and participate as their authentic selves, and in doing so, cultivate a sense of community grounded in belonging. We derive strength from the uniqueness of our staff, our volunteers, our supporters, and especially, the children and families whom we fight alongside. We respond to the needs of our community and the communities we serve.
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We honor the diverse array of experiences, perspectives, and identities every person holds—especially the children for whom we advocate. We stand in defense of the fundamental humanity of immigrant children and join in the fight for the rights, liberation, and dignity of all communities—especially those that have been historically harmed and marginalized. Along with our allies, we strive for a world where all children are valued and treated as children, and are never subjected to the harms of detention, deportation, or separation from their loved ones.
Our Founder
Photo Credit: Andrew Segreti
Maria Woltjen founded the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights in 2004 to advocate for the rights and best interests of unaccompanied and separated immigrant children facing deportation. At the time, there was no Child Advocate for children in immigration proceedings—nothing like a guardian ad litem to focus specifically on the child’s best interests. Without guaranteed access to counsel to represent their wishes and no one to fight for their best interests, children often faced the byzantine immigration system all by themselves. Today, the Young Center is a national organization with nearly 100 staff members in 8 offices across the country. Her organization has protected the rights and best interests of thousands of unaccompanied and separated children from more than 80 countries across the world. For her service to children and the advocacy community, Maria was the recipient of the 1996 Public Interest Law Initiative Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2013 American Constitution Society Ruth Goldman Award, the 2017 UNICEF Chicago Humanitarian Award, the 2019 American Red Cross of Chicago and Northern Illinois Global Citizenship Hero, and the Young Center’s inaugural Waymaker Award. Having built the Young Center into a strong, sustainable, and independent organization that is already deeply engaged in pressing for change under the new administration, Maria retired in June 2021.