SWPS Week 14
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YC.docxThere are many policies, which positively or negatively impact the people we serve. For this reason, it is imperative for social workers to not only practice policy but also become advocates for policy changing. Policy advocacy is significant to the vulnerable population; therefore, social workers should make a commitment to stand up and face the decision makers to create a change. According to Jansson (2008), “Social workers should engage in policy reforming work to change the composition of government so that the legislators and decision makers are more likely to advance such values as fairness and social justice” (p. 39). Social workers should create groups to promote the well-being of society worldwide. For example, The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization made specifically to advocate for unaccompanied children while also fighting against policies that negatively affect unaccompanied minors. The Young Center has developed the only program in the nation to provide guardians ad litem for unaccompanied children to promote the best interest for these minors by advocating for them.
In 2003, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provided seed funding to create a program that provides unaccompanied children with child advocates to represent their best interest. Unfortunately, the U.S. Immigration Courts do not recognize unaccompanied children different from adults; therefore, the court does not consider minors’ best interest when deciding their immigrant status. For this reason, the Young Center program consists of attorneys and volunteers who have experience with unaccompanied children’s rights to advocate for these minors. According to Anjela Jenkins, a supervising attorney at the Young Center in New York, the Young Center opened their first office in 2006 at the University of Chicago Law School as an independent project and then another office in 2012 in Harlingen, Texas. The Young Center has now expanded to New York opening their first office on January 2nd, 2015. The Young Center’s goal is to expand to help more unaccompanied children.
Unaccompanied minors consist of minors who are less than 18 years old who travel to the United States without their parents/caregivers. These minors come from all over the world, alone, and by foot by crossing the U.S. border. Some unaccompanied children travel in groups with coyotes while others are under the oversight of traffickers. Although there are people who create and believe myths about unaccompanied children, many minors cross the border to escape the oppression they face back home. For example, poverty, gang violence, abusive homes, and child labor are some of the reasons why many unaccompanied children report that they leave their country of origin. As soon as unaccompanied minors arrive in the U.S. and are apprehended at the border, they are automatically placed in removal proceedings. Although minors get released to their sponsors eventually, minors are mandated to go to their court dates and prove to the immigration judge why they should remain in the U.S. Unfortunately, many of these minors are not represented with an attorney and must attend their court dates alone. The language barrier prevents these minors and their families from understanding certain demands made by the immigration judge. For this reason, the Young Center has created a program to provide child advocates to help unaccompanied minors.
Unfortunately, the Immigration Courts are not child-friendly and instead, treat children as adults. Luz Medina, the director at the Young Center in New York, expressed that the Young Center’s goal is to change the immigration system. Because children have a right to feel safe regardless of their immigrant status, the Young Center is unsatisfied with the way that the Immigration Courts have been treating these minors. For this reason, the Young Center has not only advocated for unaccompanied children but also accompanied children to these Immigration courts in order for the minors to feel safe. The Young Center wants to ensure that all decisions made by the judge take into consideration children’s safety and their best interest. Child Advocates provides judges with their best interest recommendation reports for each unaccompanied children. For this reason, child advocates take their time getting to know each child that they serve by spending many moments with them and developing trust.
Jenkins’ personal goal to make the immigration courts more friendly. Jenkins has written numerous letters to congress to request that judges make children feel more comfortable in court by having the judges take off their robes. Jenkins described her day in Immigration Court with a minor and stated that a child usually get extremely scared and intimidated as soon as the minor sees a judge enter the court room. Because there are many people in the courtroom, Jenkins also noted that children get no privacy when discussing their case. Instead, Jenkins prefers judges to ask the rest of the people waiting to be called to clear the courtroom when discussing a minors’ case. Jenkins argued that Immigration Courts should have child-appropriate procedures and her goal is to promote change in these immigration proceedings by writing letters and proposals. Jansson (2008) stated that “practitioners develop proposals when they create solutions to specific problems, whether legislation or proposals, to improve agency services” (p. 15). Jenkins is not only advocating for her particular cases but also advocating for the unaccompanied minors worldwide.
The Young Center advocates for policy change at a nationwide level. Not only is the Young Center trying to convert the immigration system, the Young Center is also challenging congress to create changes to certain policies that have been passed. For example, the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act would lead to deportation of many vulnerable children. Medina passionately argued, “Most of these unaccompanied children are refugees and sending them back would be insensitive and just wrong! We are separating families and just sending our minors back to danger. We are setting our kids up for failure.” Medina noted that this bill also wants to keep minors in adult-like immigration detention much longer. Medina explained that many minors already come traumatized to the U.S. and unfortunately; these minors are being traumatized even more in these detention facilities. Instead, unaccompanied children should be reunited with their potential sponsor in the U.S. and await trial in their home.
The Young Center has had plenty of success since it opened. When Jenkins was asked about a particular success story, Jenkins told a story about a girl who they call Rosa. Rosa was a trafficking victim from Guatemala. Unfortunately, Rosa was convinced that she wanted voluntary departure back to Guatemala. However, it was very dangerous for Rosa to return to Guatemala because the traffickers had threatened to kill her. Judges and lawyers are required to represent Rosa’s expressed interest. On the other hand, the Young Center’s duty is to report Rosa’s best interest. Fortunately, the Young Center was about to conduct an international home study to assess the safety of Rosa’s neighborhood. Rosa’s parents told the caseworker that Rosa could not return to Guatemala because she would then end up dead. While the caseworker was in Guatemala conducting the home study, she started getting threats from the traffickers that if she did not leave the neighborhood, she would end up dead. The Caseworker knew that it was not safe for Rosa to return to Guatemala. Therefore, the caseworker wrote a report expressing that it was not in Rosas’ best interest to return to Guatemala. After many weeks in counseling, Rosa agreed to stay in the U.S. Rosa was then placed in a long-term foster care placement. Rosa’s life was saved by not deporting her back to her home country.
The Young Center has made substantial progress by advocating for more than 500 unaccompanied children. Because the Young Center has protected and educated these minors on their best interests, the immigration judge in Chicago now asks Child Advocates to represent vulnerable unaccompanied children at all times. The Young Center’s goal is to educate more judges about child advocacy and why it is important for vulnerable unaccompanied minors in Immigration Courts. The Child Advocates want the world to know that unaccompanied minors come to the U.S. to flee from many things that they have witnessed in their home country. These minors have been oppressed in their home countries and unfortunately, face more oppression in the U.S. as soon as they cross the border.
Many minors have disclosed the oppression they have faced in the immigration facilities in Texas. Medina and Jenkins admit that the immigration facilities are a challenge for them because many officers deny the stories these unaccompanied children share. Minors have disclosed that officers have used their power and position to threaten unaccompanied minors with deportation if they did not tell the truth. Some border patrols are using violence and fear to oppress unaccompanied minors. Some minors believe that they deserve to be treated like this because they consider themselves intruders. Concerning the oppression that these minors face in the U.S., Mullaly (2007) noted, “Oppressed groups will disproportionately experience certain problems because of their second-class or interior position in society” (p. 254). Because people have been socialized to listen to authority, these children are not questioning their rights and eventually their voices are not being heard.
The Young Center hopes to continue to advocate for children and help them find resources so that these minors do not lose their voices. The Young Center plans on educating Americans the root of why these minors are coming to the U.S. The Young Center wants to continue participating in radical community organizing by discussing the oppression, inequality, and injustice these minors face (Reisch, 2005). The Young Center also wants to continue educating immigrants on their rights in the U.S. Mizrahi (2012) encourages social workers to not only advocate for the vulnerable population but also educate the service seekers how to stand up for themselves so that they can become leaders in their own society. Child Advocates understand that trauma lives on from generation to generation. Therefore, the Young Center’s future goals are to continue to seek social change by advocating the best interest for unaccompanied minors.
UNIT XIII: Policy Meets Practice (6-7 pages) Select an advocacy or policy action organization or group known to you, or that you are interested in. The group does not necessarily have to work on policy reform but does need to do social change/reform work of some kind. Selection is due in class by November 6th.
Based on interviews of the group's leaders and members (at least one of each) and written or online materials about the agency or group:
1. Describe the organization or group, its mission and its vision for the future
2. Describe the main policy issues that it addresses and how it goes about seeking social change, covering some of its past success and failures
Integrate at least three readings from section A and at least three readings from section B assigned for this unit. Include direct quotes from those you interview.
UNIT XIII. SOCIAL WORKERS AND SOCIAL CHANGE
A. Overview
Abramovitz, M. (2016). Case to Cause: Back to the Future. Journal of Social Work Education, v. 52, S89-98 (ER)
Jansson, B. (2008, 5th ed.). Articulating 4 Rationales for Participating in Policy Advocacy, in Becoming An Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice. Belmont, CA, Ch.2 pp. 39-75 (ER)
Jansson, B. (2008 5th ed.). Joining a Tradition of Social Reform, in Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice. Belmont, CA, Ch. 1, pp.1-36 (ER)
Mondros, J. (2005). Political, Social and Legislative Action, in Weil. M & Reisch, M. (eds.) Handbook of Community Practice, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (ER)
Hardcastle, D., Powers, P.R. , & Wenocur, S. (2004). Using the Advocacy Spectrum, in Community Practice: Theories and Skills for Social Workers, NY: Oxford University Press, pp. 355-387 (ER)
Abramovitz, M. (1996). Fighting Back: From The Legislature to the Academy to the Streets in Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States, pp.109-141 (ER)
Mizrahi, T. (2012). How I Became A Community Organizer as a Casework Social Work Student. Social Work Matters. NASW (ER)
B. Practice
Mullaly, R (2007). Working outside (and against) the system. The New Structural Social Work: Ideology, Theory & Practice (3rd ed) pp. 331-363 (B) (also available on Blackboard)
Haynes, K. & Mickelson, J. (2010 7th ed.). Ch. 5: Policy Models for Political Advocacy, pp. 72-92 and Ch 6: Practitioners Influence on Policy, pp. 93-107, in Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena. Boston: Allyn & Bacon (ER – separated by chapter)
Amidei, N. (1987). How to Be an Advocate In Bad Times, in F. Cox et al (eds.) Strategies of Community Organization, (4th ed.) pp. 106-114 (ER)
Jansson, B. (2005). Four Models of Policy Practice in Weil. M and M Reisch (Eds.) Handbook of Community Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 319-338 (ER)
Bird, M. (2015). Social Justice Advocacy in the Belly of the Beast: An Illustration of Policy Change for Social Work. Journal of Women and Social Work, pp. 1-6 (ER)
deGennaro, R. & Mizrahi, T. (2005). Coalitions as Change Agents in Weil. M and M Reisch (Eds.) Handbook of Community Practice. Thousands Oaks CA. Sage, pp. 305-318 (ER)
Reisch, M. (2005). Radical Community Organizing in Weil. M. Y. & Reisch, M. (Eds.) Handbook of Community Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 287-304 (ER)
