Session: Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth and Intermediary Institutions: Processes of Migration and Integration (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Immigrant children who enter the United States without a parent or guardian and without legal status are defined by the U.S. legal system as unaccompanied youth. The average age of these children is 14. Recent reports from UNHCR and the Immigration Policy Center indicate that many are from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras—countries with extremely high violent crime rates and histories of political instability. The number of unaccompanied youth attempting to cross the U.S. border has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2011 there were roughly 4,000 apprehended by Border Patrol, but by 2013 this number crested 21,000. Corresponding with rising gang violence in Central America, a record 65,000 unaccompanied youth were apprehended in 2014. Due to U.S. federal law, many of these youth are subsequently placed with sponsor or foster care institutions in the U.S. while they undergo deportation proceedings.

Unaccompanied youth have fled their home country in fear, crossed international borders without an adult guardian, faced threats of violence and abuse, and interacted with (or hid from) multiple governments and consequent legal and enforcement regimes. Though they are children, there is no centralized system of policies and programs that protect their rights or ensure their well-being. Yet, throughout their migration course—from their time in transit to the process of integration after they are placed with a U.S. sponsor—there are numerous organizations and institutions involved in protecting the rights of unaccompanied youth.

This symposium explores the role of these entities, focusing empirically on how they interact with unaccompanied youth across the arc of their migratory experience. Specifically, we examine migrant shelters in Mexico, the foster care system, transnational families, and local service delivery organizations such as schools, mental health providers, and hospitals. These entities can perform a mediating function between a restrictive—and at times hostile—context and the needs of unaccompanied youth. Our symposium draws on unique qualitative and quantitative data to explore how and to what extent these institutions perform a mediating role, and the impact this has on the well-being of unaccompanied youth.