Message from the Mayor: Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Hastings
Posted on: June 21, 2018 - 12:04am
Fellow residents,
We have followed the horrifying and morally unacceptable drama unfolding over the past few days and weeks of children being forcibly separated from their families at the border. If there is moral justice in the universe, may there be a price to pay for this at the ballot box and in the hereafter. While the policy seems to have been modified today so new separations may stop, there are still over 2,300 children who remain separated from their parents. Some of those children have found their way here to our community. I want to lay out the available facts and what you can do, if you are so inclined to help.
Children’s Village (“CV”), which exists quietly in our midst straddling Dobbs Ferry and Hastings, has accepted in children as part of its mission for over 160 years. About a third of its program over the last 10 years has involved ministering to the needs of unaccompanied minors remanded to their care by the Federal government’s refugee resettlement program. All of these youth in their care are between the ages of 12 and 17. Over the last few days and weeks, some children (all aged between 12 and 17) separated at the border have been remanded to their care. CV is unable to share exact numbers. Once separated from their parents, they are viewed by the resettlement agency as now unaccompanied minors and then treated that way by the system.
While we all share repulsion and dismay at this pointlessly cruel policy, the fact is that these children are now in the care of the state, and if that is happening, there is no better place for them to land than in the care of Children’s Village. CV is acting on its mission to provide the highest standard of care and safety for these children, like they have for all those in their care. They provide social workers, psychologists, access to immigration lawyers, vaccinations, health care, education and comfortable surroundings. These children are not restrained or in holding pens: they are integrated into the cottages that all children at CV share. They have supervised access to the rec center, which includes a pool, play soccer in the fields, and otherwise receive the care they need. CV, meanwhile, does what it can to connect them with their families and that effort is ongoing. CV is doing what they do and what they can. They deserve no opprobrium.
Our instinct is to help and I have worked with CV to determine what, if anything, the community can do to help these children in our midst. CV stresses that these children’s needs are being met through the existing program designed to assist them. CV does not need funding assistance, nor staples such as food or bedding. This is, after all, what they provide as a part of the services they offer. However, they would welcome “welcome packs” for these (and the other) unaccompanied children in their care and will accept those gratefully. These packs would include things like personal hygiene items, colorful t-shirts, Spanish language books, fun socks, journals and pens, language-independent games like checkers or card, arts and crafts kits, etc. We are organizing an effort to these packs for the children now: we are not, for obvious reasons, focusing on just the new arrivals – but rather for all the unaccompanied migrant children in CV’s care. CV will distribute these and stockpile them for distribution to other unaccompanied children who will, as they do, cycle through their program. We hope and know that Hastings will rise to this occasion, as we always do. Please go HERE to see what is needed, and you can drop off those supplies at Family-to-Family, which is acting to coordinate the response here, at 416 Warburton Avenue starting this coming Tuesday from 10AM to 1PM. Alternately, you can donate directly to this effort by clicking HERE. These are teenage children: there is no need for diapers or toys or baby food or other such items. Please do not spontaneously go to CV to drop off items. They have been flooded with calls of concern and requests to provide assistance. They are not configured to handle such outpourings of unstructured generosity, so we are trying to help by ensuring at least some order to the chaos. If you have questions about CV, you can speak to CV’s Hastings community liaison, local resident Lauren Blum. Reach out to me, and I will put you in touch.
I have always said that the best reaction to such events is action – whether to organize politically, or to provide assistance. This is a way to do something very local, though there are plenty of good organizations elsewhere that would welcome your funding and assistance as well.
This dark moment will hopefully pass, but newly-arrived immigrants continue to arrive in our area. Another Hastings group organized a year ago and has been working with Neighbor’s Link, a terrific services organization that is helping immigrants locally. You can reach out to them by emailing HERE.
Thank you for what you will do on these children’s behalf.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski
Mayor