Child Immigration

The child immigration issue highlighted in the section provided is the inhumane treatment that children who have fled from their countries in search of better places to live or seek asylum often face at the border of the USA. Some countries in Central America, specifically the Northern Triangle countries (Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador), have a lot of instability due to various factors, including gang violence, poverty, drug trade, and civil unrest, among other reasons. Citizens die there in mass numbers, which leads them to flee the country to safer places. Children are the most vulnerable in all situations because they experience a great deal of violence and other traumas, such as losing their families through separation or murder.

In addition to these sufferings, when they get to the border, these children are treated in an inhumane way. For instance, the NASW reports that they are held in overcrowded Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities. These facilities are also reported to have no access to basic necessities, such as food and sleeping areas, and they lack the mental and medical healthcare that they desperately need (National Association of Social Workers, n.d.). Nevertheless, there is hope for these poor children as the NASW is actively working with Congressional leaders and joining immigration-focused associations to get policies that will improve the care and protection of refuge-seeking children implemented.

Federal Policy Analysis

            The U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards Act (H.R. 3525) is an immigration bill that mandates U.S. Customs and Border Protection to institute a procedure for timely medical screening at ports of entry (Meinke, (2022). This bill aims to address the multiple health-related concerns that individuals who are apprehended by authorities who are trying to cross the border in search of refuge usually have.  Some of these health concerns, as mentioned above, include mental health issues as a result of traumatic experiences; others include injuries, exhaustion, and sometimes, some women are pregnant. This bill was an amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and it obligates the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to establish medical screening processes for such people at the border. This bill’s main aim is to ensure that everyone detained while trying to cross the border, especially children receive the medical attention they require. This bill was enacted in response to the significant criticism the government received regarding the inadequate healthcare and health screenings available to individuals seeking refuge while in the custody of CBP.

The key provisions of this bill included that standardized medical screenings for people apprehended at the border by border protection agents would be established. Second, these screenings would be tailored to fit the specific needs of people who seek asylum, and lastly, the bill mandated U.S. Customs and Border Protection to only employ medical personnel who are trained and experienced with screenings that refugees require. This mandate was significant as refugees will be people who have traveled thousands of miles, possibly even walking and sleeping in the cold, and as such, tend to have some bio-psychosocial problems, including dehydration, mental health issues, and infections. In addition, in order to prevent a public health crisis, these medical personnel must also be trained to screen for vaccinations, HIV testing, and tuberculosis, among others (Beier & Fredricks, 2023). As such, medical health professionals deployed at the ports of entry must be knowledgeable. Overall, the bill aimed to ensure that individuals apprehended at the border are taken care of humanely.

Addressing the Needs of Unaccompanied Migrant Children

According to a report by The Office of Refugee Resettlement, the number of unaccompanied children apprehended by border authorities has been on a steady increase over the past several years. This number hit a record number of 118,938 last year but decreased once this year to 88,515 as of July 2024 (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2024a). This massive influx of unaccompanied children means that a lot of legal resources will be required for various reasons, including legal representation. One of the main challenges that these children face is the complicated legal proceedings required to ensure that they are not deported, helping them get sponsors or finding their relatives so that they can obtain custody. Additionally, estimating how many people will escape their nation and arrive in America at any given time is impossible, making this a massive and utterly unpredictable number of children. Nevertheless, the legal services agents who help these children are mostly from non-profit organizations, while a small number of them provide pro bono services; either way, they are outnumbered by the children by a huge margin, which can cause the children to be stuck in Customs and Border Protection holding facilities.

A second need for unaccompanied immigrant children is mental and medical health services. First, unaccompanied children usually come from countries with undeveloped healthcare systems, which means that they may have undiagnosed illnesses or even may have missed their immunizations. Secondly, the journey to the border exposes the already vulnerable children to more dangerous situations like harsh weather and even abuse from strangers, among others, all of which cause physical or mental health issues. When these children are seized at the borders and medical examinations are conducted, these possibilities must be considered. Last year, the Office of Refugee Resettlement had approximately 300 programs in 27 states, all of which provided health care, among other services, to unaccompanied children (Beier & Fredricks, 2023). Notable, unaccompanied children with special medical needs are placed in specialized facilities, federal foster care placements, or emergency intake sites.

The third need of unaccompanied children is the reunification efforts with their respective families. Some children come to America in hopes of being reunited with family members who had come before them, but this can have challenges, especially when their family members are hard to find, especially when they are undocumented themselves. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has to locate and vet the families of these children before releasing them. Nevertheless, despite these challenges, according to the ORR, last year, approximately 72% of unaccompanied children were reunited with their families or sponsors, who are individuals designated by the parents or the government. Additionally, the Office of Refugee Resettlement also reported that in 2023, the age of approximately 76% of unaccompanied children referred to ORR was over 14 years old, and 61% were boys. In addition, the breakdown of their countries of origin was roughly as follows: Guatemala (42%), Honduras (28%), El Salvador (9%), Mexico (8%), and others (13%) (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2024a). Overall, approximately ninety percent of them are reunified with their families, nine percent are deported back to their country, and the remaining one percent usually end up in long-term foster care programs.

The fourth need of unaccompanied children is home studies at a sponsor’s home where the child, especially those who have been trafficked or children with special needs, are placed. To ensure that these children end up in safe environments, the ORR conducts extensive screening procedures, which include home studies. Essentially, a home study serves to assess the sponsor’s ability to meet the needs of the child, educate and prepare them for the child’s arrival, and to corroborate the data gathered during the assessment so that the decision on whether to give them a child or not is made (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2024c).

Lastly, yet important unaccompanied children also have a need for educational development. One of the significant challenges when it comes to educational development is when there is a language barrier. Whether a child ends up with their families, sponsors, or in long-term foster care, if that child is not fluent in English, attending school becomes a challenge, especially since most public schools do not have resources that can help them.

State Resource Analysis

• Fort Wayne – Catholic Charities of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Inc., 260.422.5625 (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement. 2024b).
  • Fort Wayne is the second-largest city in the state of Indiana, and it has a significant metropolitan population. South Bend is also an urban area because it is the regional hub and home to the University of Notre Dame.
• Indianapolis- Catholic Charities Indianapolis, Inc, 317.236.1518 (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2024b).
  • Indianapolis is an urban area as it is Indiana’s capital and largest city.
• Indianapolis – Exodus Refugee/Immigration Inc., 317.921.0836 (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, 2024b).

Applying Social Work Values to Child Migrant Issues

As a social worker working with unaccompanied children, having cultural knowledge of the child’s culture is vital because it helps avoid misinterpretations and misunderstandings. In addition, most of the children have experiences that make it hard for them to trust strangers. As such, it is important to have cultural knowledge because then one can apply a transcultural approach which is based on the assumption that it is only through taking into account one’s cultural affiliations, migration experience, and ways of thinking that one can understand and effectively care for such children (Radjack, et al., 2020). For instance, having knowledge of how a certain culture deals with mental health issues like PTSD is essential so that a culturally sensitive approach can be used on children who have experienced PTSD as opposed to imposing approaches that they would find confusing or do not believe in.

Conclusion

            I learned a lot of things from this assignment, especially in regard to unaccompanied children at the border and how their needs are taken care of. It is commendable that the government has taken significant steps towards catering to the needs of these children, but I believe that the numbers are still too overwhelming. The conditions of where the children are held are also not conducive for living and go against the policies implemented by the government. Based on this, I learned that more social workers are needed in this area, and social workers should advocate for more resources to be allocated to the organizations that work with unaccompanied children so that these conditions can be improved. In addition, most unaccompanied children suffer from mental health issues, especially if they flee their country due to life-threatening conditions. Therefore, mental health care providers must be deemed as essential workers in the ORR so that all these children can get the help they require. 

References

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement. (2024a). Unaccompanied children program fact sheet. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/fact-sheet/programs/uc/fact-sheet

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement. (2024b). Find resources and contacts in your state. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/map/find-resources-and-contacts-your-state

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement. (2024c). Unaccompanied children program policy guide: Section 2. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/policy-guidance/unaccompanied-children-program-policy-guide-section-2

Beier, J., & Fredricks, K. (2023). A path to meeting the medical and mental health needs of unaccompanied children in US Communities. Migration Policy Institute and American Academy of Pediatrics, Washington, DC.

Meinke, S. R. (2022, January). The rise of multiple-measures rules in the House of Representatives. In Congress & the Presidency (Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 31-59). Routledge.

National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.). Child immigrant crisis. https://www.socialworkers.org/News/1000-Experts/Media-Toolkits/Child-Immigrant-Crisis#tab_item-0

Radjack, R., Touhami, F., Woestelandt, L., Minassian, S., Mouchenik, Y., Lachal, J., & Moro, M. R. (2020). Cultural competence of professionals working with unaccompanied minors: addressing empathy by a shared narrative. Frontiers in psychiatry, 11, 528.

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