There has been increasing media attention paid to the separation of families due to immigration status. A recent ABC news special discusses the experience of one undocumented mother in Arizona who was accused of a misdemeanor charge, arrested and placed in a detention center, and separated from her children for 2 years before being able to see them again. Later, she was deported to Mexico despite fighting deportation for 2 years.

Meanwhile, her children were placed in foster care. Because of timelines put in place to achieve permanency for the child sooner rather than later, the court terminated her parental rights, and the children are in the process of being adopted. This is a heartbreaking case of a family being separated simply because of immigration status, not because of child maltreatment or severe neglect.

This issue is not isolated. A report by the Applied Research Center titled Shattered Families details the extent of the problem when parents are deported and children end up in foster care. Often, the only reason for removing the child is lack of immigration documentation. The ARC estimated that there are 5,100 children in foster care whose parents have been detained or deported.In Wisconsin, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) formed the Workgroup on Safety and Well-Being for Immigrant and Refugee Children and Families to create clear policies to help caseworkers when confronted with the difficult situations that involve the intersection of the child welfare and immigration systems. They created a report with recommendations for changes, and the workgroup has been working on measures that will support immigrant and refugee families while also ensuring the welfare of children. As the workgroup report emphasizes, “When parents are deported they retain the same rights to their children as any other parent”. Efforts like those being made by the DCF workgroup will ensure that families are not unnecessarily separated due only to immigration status.

Julie Davidson