Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)

Introduction

Welcome to the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Caseworker's Toolkit for Children in Federal Custody, developed by the Children's Services department of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops / Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS), in conjunction with Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC). 

These materials were developed primarily for foster care caseworkers assisting children in the federal custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement / Division of Children's Services (ORR/DCS) (formerly Division of Unaccompanied Children's Services or DUCS), to ensure that SIJS-eligible children receive the assistance and case monitoring they need during the SIJS application process. 

In addition, we hope that these documents will also help social service and legal practitioners working with other children who may be eligible for SIJS. 

Documents in this Toolkit include:

Product 1: SIJS Flow Chart

• A PowerPoint flow chart of the SIJS process, including:      
  
  • Chart 1: Basic SIJS Case Flow for Children in the Custody of the Federal Government
  • Chart 2: Establishing Jurisdiction of Local Juvenile Court
  • Chart 3: Terminating Immigration Court (EOIR) Proceedings
  • Chart 4: Permanent Residency Application and Adjustment of Status

Product 2:  SIJS Flow Chart - Accompanying Information

• A compilation of the "pop-up box" information from the SIJS flow charts, for printing purposes.  Pop-up boxes and flow charts correspond numerically.

Product 3: Clarifying Roles

• A description of the people and professionals affecting the outcome of children's SIJS cases, including:        
  
  • Attorneys
  • Caseworkers
  • Court systems and judges
  • Family
  • Federal government agencies
  • Guardians ad litem
  • National voluntary agencies

Product 4: Key Government Players

• A succinct description of federal and state level government entities interacting with SIJS-applicant children, including links to organizational charts and Web sites.

Product 5: Forms & Fees

• A summary of the typical SIJS application forms (I-360, I-485, and I-765) and accompanying fees.

Product 6: SIJS Q & A

• A question and answer dialogue with immigration law experts addressing common inquiries about SIJS.

Product 7: Work Permit Q & A

• A question and answer dialogue with immigration law experts addressing common inquiries about work authorization for children in immigration proceedings.

Product 8: Child-Friendly Immigration Resources

• An annotated list of useful resources for helping children, their caseworkers, and attorneys, understand and explain legal matters of relevance to SIJS applicant children, particularly those in federal custody.

Product 9:  BRYCS Child Welfare Resources

• A list of child welfare resources available from the Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS) Web site

Please send any feedback about these documents to migratingchildren@usccb.org.

Acknowledgements: USCCB/MRS wishes to acknowledge the hard work of numerous people on this project, including: Susan Schmidt, MSW and Nadine Wettstein, for researching and writing these documents; Julianne Duncan, Mimi Kleiner, Margaret MacDonnell, Adrienne Young, Beth Drevlow, Claudia Gilmore, and Anne Mullooly for reviewing, editing, supervising and supporting this project; Sarah Bronstein, James Eyster, Debbie Lee, Carlos Ortiz, and Susan Reed, for their knowledgeable legal input and review; Laura Climer, Molly Daggett, Myriam Hillin, Sierra Rowe, and Cecilia Saco, for their valuable direct practice and casework input.