Urgent: Unaccompanied children need your help

Children at the border need your help right now. Make a life-saving contribution today. KIND has a 100% Charity Navigator rating.

Donate Now

Read Now: Root Causes Fact Sheet

Why are children leaving Central America and arriving at the U.S. border?

Learn More

2020 Annual Report

Unparalleled Leadership in Unprecedented Times

Learn More

KIND México

Assisting Unaccompanied Children on Both Sides of the U.S.-Mexico Border

Learn more here
Donate

Our Mission & Vision

A world in which children’s rights and well-being are protected as they migrate alone in search of safety.

We will achieve our vision by:

Ensuring that no child appears in immigration court without high quality legal representation;

Advancing laws, policies, and practices that ensure children’s protection and uphold their right to due process and fundamental fairness; and

Promoting in countries of origin, transit, and destination durable solutions to child migration that are grounded in the best interests of the child and ensure that no child is forced to involuntarily migrate.

Learn More

What We Do

Legal Services

Our Legal Services team partners with major law firms, corporations, and law schools to provide pro bono attorneys to represent unaccompanied children referred to KIND.

Policy and Advocacy

Our Policy and Advocacy team works to promote the fair and appropriate treatment of unaccompanied children by educating policymakers and the public about experiences and conditions that force children to migrate alone.

Family Separation Response

Our Family Separation Response team is addressing the profound crisis caused by the Trump Administration taking children away from their parents upon arrival at the U.S. border during its “Zero Tolerance Policy.”

Social Services

Our Social Services team provides holistic support for migrant children to address their traumas as they adjust to a new country, new language, and new homes.

Voices That Matter Most

The Voices That Matter Most project empowers immigrant and refugee children by helping them develop their personal stories of fear, flight, resilience, and hope to claim their power.

International Work

Our International team educates the public on root causes of child migration, provides programming to address drivers of child migration, and extends legal representation to children on the move and promotes standards for their protection.

Our Impact

Ways To Get Involved

Donate

Your help could mean the difference between a child who needs protection being sent back to their home country where their life may be in danger – and the child being able to stay in the U.S. to live in safety and freedom.

Advocate

For too long, immigrant and refugee children have been subject to harmful policies. Make your voice heard and urge the Biden Administration to restore fairness and protect children on the move.

Learn

Read and share the latest news and information about the protection of immigrant and refugee children.

Fundraise

Start a fundraiser for KIND! Your involvement is critical to our success and offering immigrant and refugee children a fair day in court.

Get The Latest News

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Feature Resource

KIND Fact Sheet

No child should ever face immigration court alone. Learn more about KIND, who we are, and what we do to protect unaccompanied migrant and refugee children with our KIND Fact Sheet.

Read More
Feature Resource

KIND Blueprint: Concrete Steps to Protect Unaccompanied Children on the Move

KIND’s Blueprint for the protection of unaccompanied children provides guidance on how the U.S. government should uphold its responsibility to treat these children humanely and in accordance with the law and this country’s ideals. Their unique vulnerabilities require a legal and policy framework that provides enhanced procedural safeguards and protection mechanisms essential to helping unaccompanied […]

Read More
Feature Media Hit

Six steps to prevent continued crises at the US-Mexico border

Apprehensions of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border reached a 21-year high in April, and this week Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified about the border situation before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. He reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to protecting unaccompanied children at the border and detailed steps the administration is taking to fulfill that promise.

Read More
Feature Press Release

The Life-saving Impact of Access to Legal Representation

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) President Wendy Young had the following statement regarding the announcement that President Biden will sign today a Presidential Memorandum to expand access to legal representation and the courts:

Read More

Testimonials

"I wasn’t safe in my country, that’s why I left. I was trying to save my life."
Claudio Central America
"For me it was the draw of doing pro bono work at large but also this human rights issue. They have nowhere to go and they are forced to leave their homeland alone and to come here – without someone to represent them they could very easily be sent back."
Mary Bortscheller Associate, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
"What resonates most for me is the fact that without KIND, more children would be forced to face our legal system alone and without representation. This should be, and for many of us is, simply unacceptable in our society today. We all have a responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves."
Kurt Hansson, Paul Hastings Global Vice Chairman, Litigation, Paul Hastings, and KIND Board Member
"This case reinforces for me the great privilege it is to represent these extraordinary young people. They give me far more than I could ever give them."
Charles Rysavy K&L Gates