An Update on Family Reunifications: Successes and Ongoing Challenges

Throughout the month of July, Young Center attorneys, social workers, and volunteer Child Advocates have helped reunify children with their parents after weeks or months of separation. Like in the case of three-year-old Aron, where our Child Advocate made it possible for the toddler to be reunified with his mother and released from government custody after a four-and-a-half month separation. 

But many children are still separated from their parents—hundreds of whom were deported without the opportunity to take their children with them. Just yesterday, a Young Center Child Advocate provided the information necessary for an immigration judge to approve the safe return of two sisters under the age of six, who were taken from their mother 10 months ago.Their mother was almost immediately deported and was desperate for her daughters’ return. Today we were able to call her with the good news that her little girls are coming home.
 
There is so much work still to do, both for the hundreds of children still separated from their parents and for the unaccompanied children who continue to arrive here on their own seeking protection. These children need advocates to stand with them and fight for what is in their best interests. Thank you for your continued support of this work.