What can happen to the children of immigrant parents who are targeted for immigration enforcement actions such as detention or deportation? The Family Justice Clinic (FJC) has launched an effort to inform parents and caretakers in the immigrant community about how they can use the law to preserve their right to make caretaking decisions. By designating a caretaker in the event of detention or deportation, parents can reduce the risk of their children being placed in state custody and foster care.
This spring, through its Emergency Family Preparedness Project, the FJC students have been engaged in community outreach to immigrant communities to inform parents and caretakers of their legal options for providing for children, including the option of formally designating an alternative caretaker, temporary agent, or guardian.
“Families can make plans in advance that would come to life in case a parent is rendered unavailable to take care of their children by ICE, which of course we hope doesn’t happen,” says Rebecca Greening, co-director of the Clinic, who is coordinating the project at FJC. The project arose out of work that Clinic had been engaged with the Massachusetts Immigrant Collaborative to educate immigrant populations about their rights should they become involved with the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families (DCF). In January, with the Trump administration’s stated intention of increasing detention and deportations, the importance of caretakers designating someone to care for their children became more acute and the Emergency Family Preparedness Project accelerated.
While alternative caretakers can come forward informally, their ability to make decisions on topics such as a child’s education and medical care is limited without proper legal documentation based on the parent or primary caregiver’s consent. Having such legal documents in place reduces the concerns that arise when DCF assumes custody of a child because a parent has been rendered unavailable. Because DCF regulations contain restrictions about with whom a child in custody can be placed, including restrictions based on immigration status, numerous barriers can arise when trying to keep children in the care of familiar alternate caretakers .
“The outreach is about showing people that they have legal tools to preserve their ability as a family to decide what happens to their children if this terrible event occurs, versus the state making the decision,” Greening says. “This is one way we can show up when there is an emergent legal need in the community,” she adds, noting that the project will be doing train-the-trainers workshops to educate staff and case managers at various organizations and coalitions including Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence.
FJC students spent the semester creating training materials and accessible public education materials, working from resources legal services advocates developed during the last Trump administration. Greening and her students have made in-person and online educational presentations at numerous venues, including Rosie’s Place, a mutual aid network for immigrants in East Boston, and, in collaboration with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, at the Boston International Newcomers Academy, a high school for newly arrived students. They’ve also done several co-presentations in conjunction with the Massachusetts Immigration & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA).
Among other things, Greening and her students want the public to know that it is easy to fill out the legal forms to designate an alternative caretaker, that the forms are free and online, and that they don’t need to hire someone to help them. The Clinic is ready to help families who want assistance with the process, including answering questions, providing guidance on custodial status, and completing the notarization process. Unfortunately, there have been reports in the community of vulnerable families being “charged a lot of money to complete forms which are free and available on the Internet,” Greening says. “We are trying to get accurate information out to the community to empower people in case this catastrophic event happens to their family.”
“People have a lot of questions about what could happen, including if can they take their kids with them if they are deported,” says Greening. “That’s a very reasonable question to
have in a time where there is increased fear around immigration enforcement.” However, she says, “the legal landscape is very muddy right now and it’s not easy to provide clear guidance because enforcement looks different in different places,” and things are changing rapidly.
For more information about Emergency Family Preparedness, contact the Family Justice Clinic: [email protected]
The project is just the latest manifestation of the work that the Clinic does to keep families intact. In addition to deep expertise in representing clients in fair hearing cases, where they argue that a support finding of abuse or neglect against a caretaker by DCF is unfounded and should be overturned, FJC also works on domestic violence cases. This spring, a client reached out to Marianna Yang, co-director of the Clinic, and two of her students, Mana Javadi ’26 and Hannah Frater ’26, for help in an appeal to challenge an unsupported DCF allegation. The Clinic’s model of client-centered and trauma-informed practice, and the competency of the student representation, resonated with the client.
“I wanted to say thank you again for all of your help. I felt anxious going into [court] but I didn’t really feel any notable anxiety during it [because] I got to trust that y’all had it,” the client wrote in a thank you note. “I am so thankful for that . . . I got to feel able to sit and trust someone else during a time I’ve historically had to find it all within myself to bring . . . What y’all do, matters. It helps. It makes it possible to keep carrying the rest without feeling like it’ll crush me.”
The client added, “I will now forever get to brag that I had Harvard students representing me! Never minimize how impressive that accomplishment is and how amazing you are for having achieved it. It wasn’t so long ago that women couldn’t do what any of y’all are doing and here you are, killing it and making it look easy. That’s amazing!”