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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) just issued a new report demonstrating how the federal government’s reliance on “Significant Incident Reports” (SIRs) negatively impacts the well-being of unaccompanied and separated children in government custody.
"Punishing Trauma: Incident Reporting and Immigrant Children in Government Custody” documents how SIRs often lead to children’s transfer to more restrictive settings, prolong their stays in federal custody, adversely impact children in their immigration cases, and delay family reunification or acceptance into federally-funded foster care.
This co-authored report is based on a survey of dozens of service providers who work directly with unaccompanied and separated children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). In fiscal year 2019, federally funded providers filed more than 100,000 SIR forms about children in custody. The report recommends a wholesale overhaul of the SIR system away from punitive responses to children’s behavior to one that ensures children receive individualized, trauma-informed care. To read our press release, click here. You can also support and uplift the report using our social media graphics and messaging here.
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