UIC ED 135

1. Child Welfare:
Family Separation
ED 135

2. A 2-year-old Honduran asylum-seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the U.S.-Mexico
border on June 12, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

3. Guiding Questions
1. What is the history of family separation in the U.S.?
2. How do family separations impact children’s welfare?
3. How might this relate to children’s risk and protective factors?
4. What are policy alternatives to family separation?

4. Our legacy of family separation
● African American families during the slavery era—3 million African American
children
● Native American children sent to boarding schools—100,000 Native American
children
● Japanese families interned during WWII—60,000 Japanese children
● Over 2,000 children are born in prison each year and separated from their
mothers
○ 2.7 million children have incarcerated parents
○ More on this later

5. Why are we separating immigrant families?
● While it has fallen, we do
have over 10 million
unauthorized border entries
each year
● Separation of families is seen
as a deterrent (though
research says it is an
ineffective deterrent)
● But are we considering child
welfare?

6. Flores v. Reno (1997)
● “The loophole driving the migrant crisis”—some say Flores is causing the
influx of asylum-seekers
● Agreement between immigration activists and Clinton administration on child
detainees at the border; set national welfare standards for treatment of
unaccompanied minors
● In 2015 a district judge extended protections to accompanied minors and
added that all detained minors must be released within 20 days and put into a
“least restrictive setting”
● The Trump administration attempted to go around the Flores decision and
keep families detained indefinitely

7. Immigrant Family Separation Before Trump
● President Obama separated children from parents in cases where parents
had serious charges in addition to illegally crossing the border (e.g., trafficking
drugs)
○ This wasn’t a zero-tolerance policy as is currently, but a case-by-case basis policy

8. Family Separation Under President Trump
● April 2018: Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces that ICE and the
Trump admin are adopting zero-tolerance policy toward anyone caught
illegally crossing the U.S./Mexico border
● Around 2,000 children had been separated from their parents April to
mid-June 2018
● June 2018: In response to public pressure President Trump passes executive
order to halt family separation whenever possible
● July 2018: Trump Administration misses various deadlines to reunite children
with families, meaning families are not reunified; government says in April
2019 it may take up to two years to fully reunify all families

9. Family Separation Under President Trump
● More than 5,400 children have been separated since July 2017
● The government continues to separate families when parents have a criminal
record, communicable disease, or when there are questions about the parent-
child relationship
● In January 2020, a judge ruled that this is in keeping with the law
● Immigrant officials have discretion to decide when to separate children
from parents

10. One youth’s experience in immigrant detention

11. Discuss
● What are your reactions to these facilities?
○ Do they look like places safe for children? Children’s development? Safety?
● In what ways might these detention facilities impact child welfare?
○ Risk factors
○ Protective factors

12. Is everything solved once a family is reunified?

13. Discuss
● What are your general reactions to the video?
● What do you think about the process for reunifying parents with their
children?
● How might separations be traumatizing for children?
○ Risk factors
○ Protective factors
● Any other thoughts?

14. How family separation and detention impact children

15. How family separation and detention impact children—Risk
Factors
Short-Term
● Physical symptoms
● Stress responses
● Changes in…
○ Behavior
○ Sleep
○ Eating
○ Ability to potty train
○ Memory
Long-Term
● Toxic stress
● Weakened immune system
● Developmental delays
● Increased risk for…
○ Heart disease
○ Depression
○ Substance abuse
○ PTSD

16. Discuss
● How does this relate to protective and risk factors for children?
● What did the doctor mean when she referred to resilience and protective
factors for these children?
○ Also think of the Detlaff & Earner piece
● How might this relate to the welfare of children separated from incarcerated
parents?

17. Separation of children from incarcerated parents
● There are around 2.7 million U.S. children separated from their incarcerated
parents
○ Or 1 in 14 children have a parent who is incarcerated
● 11% of children in foster care have a mother who is incarcerated
● African American children are 9x and Hispanic children are 3x more likely
than white children to have a parent in prison

18. How separation of children from incarcerated
parents relates to risk factors
● Families experience
○ Financial instability (and poverty itself is
a risk factor)
○ Material hardship
○ Unstable family relationships
○ Increased residential mobility
○ Shame and stigmatization
● Youth experience
○ More likely to forego medical care
○ More likely to use drugs
○ More likely to engage in risky sexual
behavior, including prostitution
○ Higher rates of PTSD and depression
○ More likely to have school behavior and
academic performance problems
○ Impacts felt regardless of which parent is
incarcerated

19. Think, Pair, Share
● What is the best way to process and house asylum seeking families waiting
for final asylum decisions after coming into the United States?
● What about incarcerated mothers of young children as discussed in the
Miranda & Legha piece?
● How do these solutions relate to child welfare?
Think of the Chaudry piece (executive summary, policy recommendations) and your own ideas.