PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lauren Glassman Shore, Director of Home Finding and Unaccompanied Children Program at JCCA
3:49:12
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172 sec
Lauren Glassman Shore from JCCA provided testimony on their services for unaccompanied immigrant children, highlighting challenges in education access, foster care placement, and cultural matching. She emphasized the need for increased city support in these areas to better serve this vulnerable population.
- JCCA provides long-term foster care services for unaccompanied children, funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
- Challenges include long wait times for school enrollment and access to community services in appropriate languages
- JCCA has partnered with ACS to transition youth to continued foster care services after turning 18
- There's a need for simplified processes to transfer youth to ACS care and for recruiting culturally and linguistically appropriate foster homes
Lauren Glassman Shore
3:49:12
Thank you.
3:49:13
Good afternoon.
3:49:13
Thank you for calling this hearing and allowing me to speak today.
3:49:17
My name is Lauren Glassman Shore.
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I'm the director of the home finding and unaccompanied children programs at JCCA.
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I also serve as the agency's immigration liaison to ACS.
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JCCA is a provider of long term foster care services for unaccompanied children funded by the federal office of refugee resettlement ORR.
3:49:37
First contracted to provide these services in the Bronx in 2017, we expanded to serve Brooklyn and Queens last year.
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When you see our place in our care, we recruit, train, and identify foster families to house the youth while they work towards legal status.
3:49:51
The children also receive medical and mental health services, education and accultration support, and access to legal services.
3:49:59
The unaccompanied children we serve have various needs, particularly around education, Many of the children we serve have faced significant wait times in enrolling in international schools in the city and receiving access to community services like tutoring in the language that they speak.
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We encourage the city to increase investments in educational institutions and programs that will allow the UC to receive access to quality education in a timely manner.
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The unaccompanied children can only be enrolled in our program with ORR until they are eighteen years old.
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Many have, at this point, not found permanency or obtain legal relief.
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As a result, in the last few years, JCCA has partnered with ACS to explore Desso2 child placements so that they can continue to receive foster care services and all the supports that come with it.
3:50:45
To date, JCCA has been able to transition 13 youth to ACS care to continue working towards legal relief educational goals, all while residing in a safe, stable home.
3:50:56
This process is being replicated among other agencies, and there are currently dozens of unaccompanied children awaiting ACS placement.
3:51:02
The process through the office of placement, family court legal services, and the provider agencies requires ongoing collaboration and communication.
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We believe a simplified process of referring the unaccompanied children to ACS Care will ensure that we transfer you they plan securely.
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In addition, we have faced several challenges in recruiting foster parents for this vulnerable population.
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The children speak various languages and observe different religions.
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In many cases, we've struggled with recruiting foster families that practice the same customs and speak the same language.
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I encourage the city to help with recruiting foster homes that meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the of the children, and I believe it would be helpful that the city would assist and support in the promotion of these types programs so that we can identify culturally appropriate foster homes.
3:51:50
Thank you for taking the time to consider the needs of unaccompanied children in our city.
3:51:54
And together with service providers like JCCA, the city can build an infrastructure that supports these young newcomers towards getting acclimated to their new home.
3:52:02
Thank you.
