“Throughout the separation, Isaias consistently asked for more photos of his children and more phone calls. He missed his children and could not wait to be reunited with them.”
In the Spring of 2024, Isaias* reached out to the Young Center from immigration detention, asking for support participating in the family court proceedings for his two young children who had recently entered the domestic foster care system.
As part of the Technical Assistance Program, I worked with Isaias, his attorney, and the child welfare case manager over the course of the next year. Together, we advocated for his children to reunify with him in El Salvador* following his deportation. Isaias complied with everything the child welfare system asked of him from El Salvador. He underwent a home study, provided proof of income, and a care plan for when he was at work. Throughout the separation, Isaias consistently asked for more photos of his children and more phone calls. He missed his children and could not wait to be reunited with them.
However, despite a 2025 summer court order that ordered reunification with his children in El Salvador, the department would take months more to facilitate their reunification, further prolonging Isaias children’s time in the foster care system. Meanwhile, I continued to provide support to the case manager, who was now applying for US passports for the children. The case manager also encountered additional delays even with minor things like getting the order for the department to pay for the passports.
Even when all stakeholders agreed it was best for these children to reunite with their father, I saw no urgency from those with the most power to move things forward, no recognition that every additional day these children spent in foster care was a day they didn’t get to spend with their family, who eagerly waited for them.
Children and families feel the passage of time and milestones missed while waiting for a court order, a meeting, or a flight.
Despite the setbacks and delays, Isaias continued to wait for reunification, relieved to know it would happen that year. Finally, the passports arrived in the fall of 2025 and the projected date for reunification was mid-December.
But in early December the case manager informed us there was yet another delay. This time, it was approving the department’s purchase of the flights. Given the holidays, the case manager had been told the reunification would be on hold until January.
Isaias was devastated. His family was planning to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, together with his children. He began to doubt that they ever intended to reunify him with his children. After endless calls and outreach to partners, we were able to elevate the concern for the delay and the children’s prolonged stay in foster care to someone in agency leadership. The next day I got a call that reunification would proceed that weekend, just days before Noche Buena, Christmas Eve. I was able to tell Isaias the good news. In two days, he would meet his children at the airport and finally take them home.
That weekend, the family reunified. They spent the holidays with their grandparents, together as a family.
Despite my relief that they reunified in time for the holidays, I know that his reunification could have and should have happened sooner. It is children and families who pay the price for the lack of urgency displayed by stakeholders in this system. It is children and families who feel the passage of time and milestones missed while waiting for a court order, a meeting or a flight.
*Name and country changed to protect the individuals involved
By Shaina Simenas, Co-Director Young Center Technical Assistance Program