A Critical Step Forward: Updated ORR Policy Increases Children’s Contact with Family

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Monday, June 26, 2023 

Media Contact: media@theyoungcenter.org 

Washington D.C.— Today, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announced a vital policy change that will require daily contact between unaccompanied immigrant children in custody and their families. At the Young Center, we celebrate this much needed improvement which will give children the ability to communicate with the people they love and trust on a daily basis. The update, which takes effect today, will increase the minimum phone call time children in ORR custody are entitled to from two 10-minute calls per week to 50 minutes of phone call time allocated between Monday to Friday. The policy also requires a minimum of 45-minute calls on holidays, weekends, and the child’s birthday, as well as unlimited calls when children are in emergency situations, including grieving. 

Jane Liu, Director of Policy and Litigation at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said: 

“For years, the Young Center has advocated for children to have more telephone and video contact with their family members while in government custody and have sounded the alarm to ORR about the harm to children’s health when they are denied that source of comfort, peace, safety, and security. Without the chance to hear from and speak with their parents and other caregivers, children have faced chronic sleep difficulties, anxiety, stress, and symptoms of depression, all of which the Young Center documented in our report last year. Today’s policy change is a direct result of the tireless efforts of the Young Center and other groups, including pediatric health experts, who have advocated to protect unaccompanied children’s safety, well-being, and right to family. Its immediate implementation will be directly felt by children in custody right now. Still, we cannot forget that this is the floor, not the ceiling, of what can and must be done to protect children in custody and that all children deserve to remain with their families first and foremost.” 

Olivia Peña, Co-Director of the Young Center’s Child Advocate Program, said: 

“Today’s policy change is a stepping stone in the right direction to ensuring children can be connected to their loved ones and remains a testament to the fierce dedication of our Child Advocates who have fought over the last nearly 20 years for children to have greater access to their family while in government custody. We have seen firsthand just how traumatizing it is for children to be limited to only two calls per week, each call lasting only 10 minutes. Already, far too many children are forced to navigate our country’s immigration system alone and restricted phone and video calls only deepens their sense of isolation and uncertainty. We urge the Biden Administration to keep families together in every sense of the term—from making sure families remain together the moment they arrive to the U.S. and are never forced to separate to begin with to urgently reuniting children already in custody with their loved ones and ensuring their unlimited contact through phone and video calls and in-person visits.” 

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Anabel Mendoza at media@theyoungcenter.org