Honoring our Family Separation Response Team Pro Bono Attorneys

Representing unaccompanied minors challenges pro bono attorneys to expand the scope of their advocacy beyond that of a typical attorney-client relationship. Unaccompanied minors rely on their attorneys to coordinate with the community, teachers, and support organizations to secure resources, health care, school supplies, and housing. Serving as pro bono counsel in an unaccompanied minor case requires advocacy for not only the best legal outcome but for the child’s overall quality of life during the representation.

Upon confirming that each side had rested, the evidence was closed, the Judge paused, and I realized that we were going to receive a ruling on the merits now, from the bench.

The Judge spoke the words in English, “I hereby grant your petition for asylum.”

There was a brief pause while the interpreter translated the English ruling. We already knew the happy news. I turned to see the mother, sitting where she had just finished testifying, realizing she was safe. With tears streaming down her face, she turned to her daughter, and then to us, and smiled.

There is a partner of thirty-three years on our team and an associate finishing her first year. None of us has experienced a joy like that in the practice of law.

If you want to help a child, don’t shy away because it’s an area of law you are unfamiliar with. Even if you have never worked on a SIJS case before, KIND has excellent resources and mentors to help you succeed. My pro bono KIND case was my very first case as a licensed attorney. I went to law school specifically to help displaced people end had worked on an asylum case but had never done a SIJS case before. Working on a Pro Bono SIJS case with a KIND mentor gave me everything I needed to succeed and help my child client. The help you provide to these children is a lifeline; often if they returned to their home country they would be sent back to dangerous conditions or have to leave school to work long before they finish high school. Please consider taking a pro bono case from KIND, the children need your help!