Improving Our Child Welfare System
B.
ABA Commission on Youth At Risk Policy Reforms
In 2011, through my work with the American Bar
Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk, we developed several
resolutions, approved by the ABA House of Delegates, calling for
several additional law and policy reforms. 51 These proposed policy
reforms are summarized below. In part they elaborate on the seven
general principles listed above.
1
.
Screen for immigration status
Whenever an undocumented child is apprehended by
immigration authorities, placed in foster care, or otherwise made the
subject of a case opened by a child welfare agency, that child should
be promptly screened for the wide range of possible immigration
relief options by the public agency that encounters the child.
2
.
Assure access to birth certificates
U.S. citizen children who may have undocumented parents
should be entitled to full access to their U.S. birth certificates,
paternity documents, and other vital records, such as state-issued
identification cards and school and health records, without regard to
the immigration status of their parent or guardian. In examining this
issue, we learned that some undocumented parents have difficulty
obtaining such records for their children or are fearful of seeking
them. Before any child in the custody of a child welfare agency
leaves the United States, he should be assisted in obtaining
appropriate U.S. or foreign passports, other legal forms of
identification, and his complete education and medical records.
3
.
Provide detained parents access to counsel
When parents are in immigration detention, they should have
access to an attorney who can help them understand legal issues
related to the care and custody of children who were in their care
prior to apprehension. They also should be referred to an attorney
who can represent them in state court custody, dependency, or other
state court actions related to their children. This, of course, will
51 ABA SUMMARY OF RESOLUTIONS, Resolutions 103A – 103D (2011),
http://www.abanow.org/wordpress/wp-
content/files_flutter/13105754842011_hod_annual_meeting_summary_of_resoluti
ons.authcheckdam.pdf.
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