The Safety and Well-Being of Repatriated Children
- Wednesday, May 12, 2010 |
- Written by Ariana Zuno
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KIND in partnership with the Global Fund for Children is launching a pilot project to help ensure that immigrant children who come to the United States alone and have no option but to return to their home country are sent back to a safe situation where their basic needs are met. Made possible with funding from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Guatemalan Child Return and Reintegration Project pilot, one of the first of its kind, will help children returning to Guatemala, where KIND and the Global Fund will be working with local nongovernmental organizations.
About 27 percent of the nearly 8,000 children who come to the United States each year without a parent or legal guardian are from Guatemala. While a number of these children have viable claims for U.S. protection, many others don't, and have to return to their home country. Too often children are returned to uncertain circumstances where their well-being or even their lives may be in danger. It has been reported that children have been left alone at airports in their home countries or returned in the middle of the night to people whose relationship to the children is questionable. In many cases, often out of desperation, the children decide to try to return to the United States, making the dangerous and life-threatening journey again.
"While U.S. responsibility for these children officially ends when they leave our border, our moral responsibility does not," says KIND Executive Director Wendy Young. "We must ensure that these vulnerable children who have been in our care are returned to safe situations where they can reintegrate into the community and receive services that will enable them to help themselves. This is a vital part of helping end this dangerous cycle of migration."
Through the Guatemalan Child Return and Reintegration Pilot Project, KIND and the Global Fund for Children will identify Guatemalan children who have to leave the U.S. and work with local Guatemalan NGOs to create programs where the children can access services including shelter, health care and education/skills training. Ramping up in order to receive the first returning children will be conducted throughout the summer.
