EP31: Getting Proactive About Child Immigration

NASW Social Work Talks Podcast

Martha Gonzalez-Cortes is Senior Vice President of Community Investment at Kalamazoo Community Foundation in Michigan. She has a deep working knowledge of immigration policy issues, and a passion for finding systemic solutions to challenges faced by immigrant and refugee families.

She speaks with us about immigrant children in the United States who have been separated from their families, and what can be done in the face of this inhumane practice.

Posted May 7, 2019

Read a transcript of Episode 31

Related Episodes

• EP10: Immigration in Crisis
• EP9: Social Workers and Advocacy
• EP6: Social Work & Public Policy

Related Resources

Organizations

• Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
• Michigan Office of Children's Ombudsman
• Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC)
• Michigan Hispanic/Latino Commission

Continuing Education Webinars

The Family Separation Crisis and the Importance of Legal Representation
This webinar provides an overview of the intersection of family separation and legal services for unaccompanied children, from the perspective of a practitioner on the ground, the national picture, and the federal policy changes under consideration. Free for all NASW members.

• Emotions and Politics: Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Immigrants
• Trauma Through the Social Work Lens

Social Justice Issue Briefs

• Migrant and Asylum-Seeking Families: Analysis of Federal Government Policies and Procedures
• Intersection of Sanctuary Cities, National Immigration Policies, and Child Welfare Policies and Practice in the Trump Era
• Unaccompanied Migrant Children: Overview & Recommendations

News and Publications

• The Neurobiology of Family Separation - Society for Neuroscience
• Public testimony on the migrant family separation policy- C-SPAN
• NASW says plan to separate undocumented immigrant children from their parents is malicious and unconscionable
• NASW takes issue with President Trump's Immigration Executive Order, demands more coherent, humane policy

Take Action

• Child Migrant Protection Toolkit
• How to Volunteer To Help Immigrant Children Separated from Family
• ACLU: Immigrants' Rights
• FamiliesBelongTogether.org