Unaccompanied Child Program Has Need For Foster Families In DC Area
WOODBRIDGE, VA — In his teenage years, Obaid was separated from his family during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. In Congo, another area of conflict, Archange fled as a teen and traveled alone from Brazil to the Texas border. While they had different journeys and backgrounds, they ended up in the same foster home in Woodbridge through the Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area's unaccompanied minor program. Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, which provides refugee and immigrant services, started a foster program years ago to help children who flee their countries without a parent or guardian. The U.S. government refers unaccompanied children to the program after an attempt to locate their families and if the children meet eligibility requirements.Kristyn Peck, CEO, of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, told Patch children may become separated from their families when fleeing conflict. They may also be fleeing their countries due to persecution due to their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or social group. She says less than 1 percent of people qualifying for refugee status get the chance to resettle, and less than 1 percent of that 1 percent represents unaccompanied children. Those children may be at risk of exploitive and abusive situations, Peck says."The number of people who are forced to flee their homes is higher than it's ever been in history. unaccompanied children are the most vulnerable of that group," said Peck. "They are still developing, their brains are still developing. They still need protection and care from an adult. And so if they're unaccompanied, it means no one's there to help support them in that."Children are most commonly coming from places like Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela. "The unaccompanied refugee minor program is the only program of its kind in the world," said Peck. "Other countries do not have this, and so when children are identified overseas and they don't have viable caregivers as parents — either their parents have passed in conflict or due to the nature of the conflict — everyone was separated and they're not able to be found. Then they're determined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to be unaccompanied, and other countries don't take those children into their countries child welfare systems, but the United States does."Refugees, including these children, "are the most thoroughly vetted and screened population that comes into the U.S.," undergoing multiple background checks and screenings by law enforcement, Peck says. Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area is one of about two dozen authorized to take referrals for unaccompanied minors. Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area has nearly 70 children awaiting placement into foster families and is hoping to find interested families. The organization only has capacity for up to 70 children."Often that family treats them as if it's their own child," said Peck. "That's really what we're looking for. And so although the process of becoming a foster parent requires a lot of work, you have to be trained, you have to pass licensing, which is really important, you want to make sure these young people are in safe homes. The people that are stepping forward to be foster parents, they're saving lives."What It's Like Fostering Unaccompanied ChildrenFamilies can express interest in fostering and will go through a process with a criminal background check, training, meeting potential foster kids to find a match.One of the current foster parents is Michelle Swearingen of Alexandria, who fosters a girl from Mexico with a baby. Swearingen has been interested in being a foster parent since college but has been working with asylum seekers by working at Arlington's Restoration Immigration Legal Aid. "I just really admired them and their inner strength," Swearington told Patch.Swearingen found a program to foster unaccompanied children through Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area and started with respite care, which is a short-term option to host foster kids for other foster parents when needed. The couple, who also has two biological kids, first hosted the girl five months after hosting her for the first time, they learned the girl needed a new permanent home. After learning she needed a new permanent foster home, they were matched with the foster daughter and have been hosting her since February. Swearingen said she have much insight into the girl's history during the agency's meet-and-greet process to place the girl with the foster family. "She has slowly shared things with me, and I try to be as sensitive as possible," said Swearingen. The girl, who recently celebrated her 18th birthday, is completing her sophomore year in high school due to interrupted learning. She is currently learning English and works with a case manager provided by the agency to discuss goals. The 18-year-old wants to become a dental hygienist and ultimately live independently with her daughter."She can leave now as an 18-year-old, but she's able to stay in the program until she's 23 as long as she's in school," said Swearingen. Elizabeth Fairley of Woodbridge is another foster parent who took in two boys — Archange from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Obaid from Afghanistan. She and her husband became interested in fostering after hearing about children being kept in cages at the U.S. border in 2017. She wanted to help and came across Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area as they were starting up their unaccompanied minor program. Because of the potential cultural fit with Fairley and her African husband, they were first placed with Archange from the conflict-striken Congo. The foster son from Congo was 16 or 17 when he arrived after walking to the U.S. border from Brazil. He is now 20 and a senior in high school. Their other foster son, Obaid, joined them later on after being separated from his family during the Taliban's takover of Afghanistan. The family later learned the boy's family came to the U.S., but he will stay in the foster home until finishing high school. "A lot of [unaccompanied children] came from having families. It's just recently they've been uprooted and left their family," said Fairley.Nadya Andrusik, executive director of Children, Youth, and Family Services, told Patch the biggest challenge the children face is displacement from their home and trying to adjust to a new life. That involves learning a new language, adjusting to the American school system, becoming part of a new family, and getting resources to process trauma."They are also probably some of the most resilient young people I've encountered in working in child welfare for almost 20 years," said Andrusik. "They are eager to pursue a better life for themselves and want to go to school. They want to get jobs. They want to be successful and live in the United States and be prosperous citizens of the country and be what they can be and pursue those things and are very resilient in doing so."Fairley's foster Obaid told Patch kids like him come often at a young age with no family or home. Now, he feels happy in the U.S. and hopes to go to college after high school. He says it doesn't matter if the foster family has a different culture or religion, because they will respect each other. "When I came to [a] foster care family, truly my life changed. I can go to school. I can do activities. I make friends, and I'm happy staying with them," Obaid said. "I love the chance to do something in life," Archange added about what he likes about being in the U.S. Fairley says the biggest struggles for the foster boys are learning English and working on their academics. Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area provides support to the families aside from the caseworker assigned to the children, from helping with an athletic program expense to placing them in therapy.Both foster families say the fostering experience has been rewarding, including the way the foster kids interact with the parents' biological children. In Swearingen's house, the foster daughter's baby has picked up on "Spanglish," and her own kids are learning Spanish."I think it has been really sweet to see her interacting with my biological kids," said Swearingen. "It's just setting an example for my kids that we can always share what we have."Some of these children are ultimately reunified with their families. Andrusik said the program recently reunified a child with an uncle who lives in Ohio. In another case, one boy arrived unaccompanied but was reunited with his adult brother, who arrived in the U.S. and was able to find work and housing."Even if they age out many select and choose to still maintain that that family relationship because they've they've bonded on both sides, the [foster] parents and the young person," said Peck.Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area and foster parents believe Northern Virginia is an ideal place to foster these children."We are really lucky in Alexandria to have a lot of great resources through the school, and the agency provides a lot of resources," said Swearingen.Fairley says her Afghan foster son has found others from his community, has halal food options, and works at an Afghan restaurant. Her other foster son from Congo has found a community in local African soccer leagues. "This area is so great because it's diverse," said Fairley. "There's a lot of support structures already here."Peck says there are many people who have traveled or worked abroad or may have been an immigrant or refugee themselves. “I think the other thing that’s really positive about the DC metro areas is it’s so diverse and community resource rich,” said Peck. Andrusik said it is a requirement for foster families to help the children stay connected to their culture."The transition to a new country is so it's really scary, and it'd be so challenging to have to start over a new culture, new systems, leaving everything you know and often family behind, new language. All of that is new," said Peck. "So as much as we can create some familiarity and consistency, that really helps the young person and also statistically also helps them have better outcomes in adulthood.""The foster parents definitely have to be accepting of that and open to it and, and seek out opportunities for them to be able to express themselves culturally and identify with whatever community they want to identify with," said Andrusik.Swearingen would tell prospective foster families that she knows fostering isn't easy but is worth trying because of the need. She says respite fostering, a short-term option to help full-time foster parents, is a good place to start."I love that I can bring my kids into this vision that every person is made in the image of God, and we can care for people outside our family," said Swearingen. "To do that as a family, is very powerful."Peck says many of the kids on the wait list for foster homes have been waiting a long time. At the end of the day, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area wants to make sure the nearly 70 kids on the wait list get into homes."I think if we think about our own children and what we want for our own children, if we were no longer able to care for our own children, and maybe we would all pray and hope that someone else would.," said Peck. "Children are children, and they deserve care and protection, no matter who who was their parents are, where they're from."To learn more about Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area and the unaccompanied children fostering program, visit lssnca.org.The article Unaccompanied Child Program Has Need For Foster Families In DC Area appeared first on Woodbridge, VA Patch.
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