Mission Statement
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and state and federal law.
Young Center’s Work
The Young Center is a champion for the best interests of children who arrive in the United States on their own, from all corners of the world. We serve as trusted allies for these children while they are in deportation proceedings, advocating for their best interests, and standing for the creation of a dedicated children’s immigrant justice system that ensures the safety and well-being of every child.
Young Center attorneys and social workers, along with bilingual volunteers, are appointed as Child Advocate (guardian ad litem) by the Department of Health and Human Services. Our role is to advocate for their best interests—from custody and release to the ultimate decision about whether the child will be allowed to remain in the U.S. Our goal is to change both immigration policy and practice so that immigrant children are recognized first as children and their best interests are considered in every decision.
Our goal is to change the immigration system so that children in immigration proceedings are recognized as children, and best interests are made a part of the decision making process.
Young Center’s History
The Young Center was founded in Chicago in 2004. The charge was to develop a program to advocate for the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children—even though US immigration law does not recognize children as distinct from adults.
The program started small. Attorneys and social workers with experience in children’s rights and immigration law supervised bilingual volunteers—Child Advocates—who spoke the children’s languages. They met with the children while they were detained, accompanied them to immigration court and advocated for their best interests every step of the way.
In 2008, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. One short paragraph provides for the appointment of Child Advocates whose role is to advocate for the child’s best interests, the first mention of the best interests standard for immigrant children.
In 2009, the Young Center opened an office in Harlingen, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Judges, detention staff, attorneys, even ICE officials began asking for Child Advocates.
In 2013 Congress amended the law providing for expansion of the Child Advocate program.
Today the Young Center has offices in Houston, San Antonio Phoenix, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, Harlingen, and Chicago.
Click here to read our 2020 Annual Report.
Click here to read our 2019 Annual Report.
Click here to read our 2018 Annual Report.
Our Name
The Young Center is named for one of the first children we served, Young Zheng Sullivan. He was only 14 years old when his father sent him away, alone, to the United States. Born a second child in the Fujian Province of China, where the government heavily taxes families with more than one child, Young was seen as a burden. After his mother died, his father and stepmother paid a group of human traffickers, the “Snakeheads,” to smuggle Young to the United States. Unbeknownst to Young, his family only paid the Snakeheads a few thousand dollars. They expected Young to work illegally to pay off the remainder of the smuggling fee—$65,000.
We met Young after he had been apprehended by immigration officials while entering the country. Though his deportation to China—where the Snakeheads threatened his and his family’s life—seemed inevitable, we found an attorney to help Young fight his case. For years, Young and his legal team battled in courts from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to Texas family court. In 2008, the government finally granted Young Special Immigrant Juvenile status, allowing him to remain in the United States. He went to college, then graduate school, and became a U.S. citizen. Today, Young serves as a member the Advisory Board of our Houston office.
Our Logo
Our logo features an Adinkra symbol belonging to the Akan people of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. It is known as Dwennimmen (pronounced djwen-nee-menn), which translates to ram’s horns, symbolizing strength combined with humility. We chose this symbol to represent the strength and humility of Child Advocates as they fight for immigrant children and the strength of the children we have the honor of serving. The children come from across the world, from five continents, braving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles to seek protection at our borders. As the Akan proverb declares, “Dwannini ye asisie a, ode n'akorana na ennye ne mben,” which translates roughly to “It is the heart and not the horns that leads a ram to fight,” we strive each day to fight for children with the spirit of Dwennimmen.
Our Founder
Photo Credit: Andrew Segreti
Maria Woltjen founded the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights in 2004 to advocate for the rights and best interests of unaccompanied and separated immigrant children facing deportation. At the time, there was no Child Advocate for children in immigration proceedings—nothing like a guardian ad litem to focus specifically on the child’s best interests. Without guaranteed access to counsel to represent their wishes and no one to fight for their best interests, children often faced the byzantine immigration system all by themselves. Today, the Young Center is a national organization with nearly 80 staff members in 8 offices across the country. Her organization has protected the rights and best interests of thousands of unaccompanied and separated children from more than 80 countries across the world. For her service to children and the advocacy community, Maria was the recipient of the 1996 Public Interest Law Initiative Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2013 American Constitution Society Ruth Goldman Award, the 2017 UNICEF Chicago Humanitarian Award, the 2019 American Red Cross of Chicago and Northern Illinois Global Citizenship Hero, and the Young Center’s inaugural Waymaker Award. Having built the Young Center into a strong, sustainable, and independent organization that is already deeply engaged in pressing for change under the new administration, Maria retired in June 2021.