"Shattered Families:" Over 5,000 in Foster Care Whose Parents are Detained or Deported

 *To readers who may be sensitive to this subject matter, please note that the video begins with audio of children being removed from their home.

I try (ok, not perfectly but I do try) to keep my political opinions on issues other than adoption separate from this blog.  Since this blog is mostly dedicated to Adoptee Rights, Adoption Reform, and adult adoptees, it's important to me to focus on uniting on common ground, rather than feeling divided from others who may disagree when it comes to discussing other issues.  However, no matter what one feels about immigration policy and issues involving undocumented immigration, I think most anyone would agree that the separation of families, mothers, fathers, and children from one another with children ending up in the foster care system is an absolute tragedy.  These are issues that deserve the attention and compassion of every person.

The Applied Research Center recently released its findings about the over 5,000 children of detained or deported immigrants and how this impacts the foster care system, families, and children.

Some key findings:

• If nothing changes, 15,000 more children may face a similar fate in the next 5 years.
• This is a growing national problem, not one confined to border jurisdictions or states-- ARC identified at least 22 states where these cases have emerged.
• Families are more likely to be separated where local police aggressively participate in immigration enforcement.
• Immigrant victims of domestic violence are at particular risk of losing their children
• ICE detention obstructs participation in Child Protective Services' plans for family unity.
• Most child welfare departments lack systemic policies to keep families united when parents are detained or deported.

For more information, please check out the Applied Research Center's "Shattered Families" report.