Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:Jersey Girl wrote:
Yes, it is exactly what is needed. In addition to reading your linked article, I would encourage anyone to read my lengthy response to you two posts above this.
Your post really breaks down the lengths we're going to ensure the illegal immigrant minors are being treated with love and respect. The alternative is to place them with adults in a compound with other adults. I don't see how this is safe for at risk minors.
If anyone can help me understand how we're supposed to verify familial relationships for undocumented illegal immigrants I'm all ears.
- Doc
I posted those details on account of the lengthy discussion I had with a friend on Facebook. During the course of that discussion, my Facebook friend insisted that the shelter should be subject to inspection. I pointed out, that it has and will continue to be inspected by the agencies I listed (DSS, Health, Fire) on account of the fact that it is licensed. It was subject to inspection prior to licensing and will continue to be inspected over time in order to maintain the license and ensure that it is operating in compliance with the license.
People typically don't understand what licensing means. It means that everything that takes place, the environment in which it takes place indoors/outdoors, how and when it takes place, is regulated as per state law.
SKS provides transition and emotional support. They fully understand the nature of what the children need and how to meet their needs. It would be akin to placing someone like me in the program. For example, someone like me is trained and educated to meet the social/emotional needs of children, how to guide behavior and provide curriculum that is intellectually stimulating with intentionality.
The concern I have is that given the huge influx of immigrants (adults/children) that the programs will need to be somehow expanded into other areas such as miltary bases and I don't know where the staffing will come from. Each military base has it's own child development program and those are typically full with regard to enrollment.
People are rightly concerned about the well being of the children. Keep in mind, however, that a significant number of children have already been impacted by violence in their country of origin. If SKS is hooking them up with therapeutic solutions, it can only help.
And as I said previously, no one wants to see children separated from their parents for even a few days much less a month or so. If there were some way to facilitate visits between the adults and children while they are detained, that would be a plus. However, some of the adults are being jailed.
It's not a good situation for any of the immigrants. Neither was the situation and living conditions in their countries of origin which is why they made the journey and effort to cross into the US to start with. The journey itself is fraught with risk, as is the nature of detention when they cross and still, they made the decision to take those risks in order to escape the brutal conditions they lived in. Even despite Jeff Sessions declaration in early May that they would be separated, they still came and they fled without documentation.
The relationship verification issue is difficult to contend with. I do know that the gov't was set up with DNA testing kits years ago, a number of which were going unused. I haven't been able to find anything regarding the status of DNA testing currently. I think the gov't could make strides if it will push and facilitate DNA testing so that relationships can be verified and children reunited with adults. But then you still have the issue of where families will be accommodated and worst of all, we have Jeff Sessions outright manipulating the situation on his end with regard to how immigrants are being classified and children are suffering on account of it.
Given the fact that children were already suffering before they arrived and that they continue to suffer, I would err on the side of caution and not place them with unrelated adults without adequate supervision--bare minimum--because then you are placing already at risk children, at risk of being abused by unrelated adults. I don't know how we can realistically expect the gov't to secure any more appropriate housing than it already is securing in an effort to accommodate immigrant refugees.
There are no easy answers here. Even if we could wave a magic wand and make Sessions retract his May declaration, there would still remain the issue of undocumented adults arriving with undocumented minor children for which there is no proof of relationship or parentage, and our gov't would still need to deal with that and also the issue of separation and food, shelter, medical care--and how to meet the children's needs 24/7. You cannot have children languishing in adult centers with nothing to do for days on end, that would be a form of neglect.
I can think of other ways to reconfigure the use of shelters but that's easy to do sitting in my nice house with all my creature comforts and space while the gov't is being immediately faced with immigrants/refugees in droves.