Giving Compass' Take:
- This issue brief explores strategies for government agencies, community organizations, and funders seeking to improve support for unaccompanied migrant children.
- What specific barriers do unaccompanied migrant children face?
- Read more about immigrants and refugees here.
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When unaccompanied migrant children leave federal custody to live with a parent or other sponsor, the transition into U.S. communities can be difficult for both children and their families. While some support is available through a patchwork of programs from local governments, post-release service providers, and other organizations, their resources and capacity vary widely. These organizations also often lack formal mechanisms to coordinate the services unaccompanied children may receive from different providers. Too often, unaccompanied children’s needs are inadequately addressed, negatively affecting their well-being and longer-term development.
This issue brief offers promising practices and resources for government agencies, community organizations, and funders seeking to improve supports for unaccompanied children transitioning from federal custody into U.S. communities. The brief focuses on four areas: strengthening coordination among government and community-based organizations to improve continuity of care; leveraging the unique role of public schools to connect children with comprehensive support; taking an interdisciplinary approach to program design so that children and their families can more easily benefit from multiple types of specialized, coordinated services; and developing a workforce of skilled, linguistically and culturally competent service providers. This research results from a collaboration between MPI and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that included three roundtables on supporting unaccompanied children’s transitions into U.S. communities.
- Improve coordination and communication between local governments, service providers, and community organizations.
- Leverage the unique role of public schools to connect children with comprehensive support.
- Use interdisciplinary approaches to address needs holistically.
- Develop a diverse, skilled workforce in organizations serving unaccompanied children.
Read the full article about strategies for unaccompanied children by Jonathan Beier, Lauren Farwell, Rhonda Fleischer, Essey Workie at Migration Policy Institute.
Collectively, these four strategies recognize that the best way to support unaccompanied children when they arrive in local communities is to build trust, strengthen ties, and facilitate communication—not only between children and service providers, but also among and within service-providing organizations themselves. Local governments and organizations can begin establishing such integrated, accessible systems of care, but the federal government and philanthropic organizations also have important roles to play in promoting these efforts.