The Challenge
Without legal status, immigrant children are at risk of being separated from their caretakers, denied basic education, and forcibly returned to unsuitable or potentially harmful living situations. Many of these children qualify for legal immigration status through a federal protection called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Specifically, SIJS provides a path to safety for undocumented immigrant children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. Unlike other forms of immigrant relief, however, SIJS requires an order from the state juvenile court making a determination about the child’s dependency or custody as well as findings concerning the child’s best interest and a history of caregiver abuse, neglect, or abandonment. In many parts of Pennsylvania, attorneys, judges, law enforcement, and child welfare workers lack the tools or knowledge needed to assist these young people.
The Project
Through her Emerging Leader Fellowship, Catherine (Katie) Feeley worked with HIAS PA to help Pennsylvania’s immigrant children overcome the barriers they face in accessing SIJS. To achieve this goal, she collaborated with community partners and other stakeholders to develop and disseminate tools designed to help the state’s legal community better serve this vulnerable population.
This Emerging Leader Fellowship enabled Katie to:
- Conduct trainings for family law attorneys, juvenile court judges, and other child serving professionals on family law, immigration law, and SIJS.
- Develop two tools designed to improve outcomes for immigrant young people in the child welfare system. The first tool is a Pennsylvania-specific guide for child welfare attorneys and solicitors, and the second is a guide designed to help older non-citizen youth in the child welfare system better understand their rights.
- Advocate for federal guidance from the Legal Services Corporation on the ability of legal aid to represent non-citizen parents and caregivers of children seeking SIJS in custody, guardianship, and other related civil proceedings.
