Feature

Helping the Most Vulnerable Refugees

Of the 80,000 to 100,000 unaccompanied children that come to the United States each year, only a small number are detained. But according to Maria Woltjen, director of the Immigrant Children's Advocacy Project at the University of Chicago, the numbers are rising from 8,000 in 2006 to an expected 10,000 next year.

At last week's spring Dean's International Council meeting, Woltjen was one of three experts on immigrant and refugee children who discussed the enormous challenges these children face in the United States-both personally and with the immigration court system.

"It is really important to recognize these kids are often really traumatized by the experience," said Woltjen. Children may travel for months with no knowledge of why they have been sent to the United States and often come alone to be reunited with a parent, seeking asylum from government persecution, fleeing abuse in their homes, or to make money to send back to their family. She said, "These cases can be very, very difficult."

According to Dina Birman, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, only recently have the Office of Refugee Resettlement and other organizations started to look at the needs of these children. As part of her research, Birman works to help teachers determine how best to aid children often dealing with culture shock and disorientation, and who have varied educational backgrounds and traumatic histories. "There are very few resources that the schools have to attend to the needs . of these kids," she said.

Children often fall into a "culture broker role" as they pick up new languages easily and often end up translating for their parents. She explained, "There's this great need for the kids to maintain their native language, or to learn it and acquire it, so that contact with their parents can remain strong." Even if immigrant children look as if they have blended into their new settings, Birman points out they are often torn between cultures-an important fact teachers must recognize.

Anita Ortiz Maddali, a visiting clinical assistant professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law's Children and Family Justice Center, works with refugee children seeking asylum-often because they belong to a certain social group in their native country. "It's a very elusive category, so it can be very difficult for us to argue why the clients are being persecuted," she explained.

The children's lawyers must prove that the persecution actually happened-including testimony from the children. It is often difficult for them to articulate their story, said Maddali, so her team often must conduct own research. This includes finding experts on the region, forensic experts, and letters or affidavits from family members talking about harm to the child. "It takes a lot of work to figure out what exactly was going on," she said. "And a lot [of children] have been traumatized and don't often trust adults."

Woltjen said Chicago is particularly good about finding lawyers for children, but many cities can not provide government-paid attorney, so an estimated 70 percent of children must face an immigration judge alone. Similar to the changes made to the juvenile court system, Woltjen's organization is advocating for incorporation of some type of best interest standard for a child's safety and well-being. All panelists agreed that a variety of policy changes would be of great benefit, from more accommodating court proceedings to making No Child Left Behind more inclusive to new immigrant students.