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Sign our Petition for Unaccompanied Children

Your signature means that you believe we must protect the rights of unaccompanied children and advance practices and policies that are in their best interests.

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Help Unaccompanied Children Learn, Grow, and Thrive

Your gift enables KIND to set these children on a path to success in the courtroom, the classroom, and beyond.

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15 Years of KIND

Celebrating15 years of helping unaccompanied refugee and immigrant children

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Keeping Kids Safe

KIND's new campaign, Keeping Kids Safe: A Seamless Safety Net of Protection, aims to reimagine and transform how we protect unaccompanied children in the United States and globally.

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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.

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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

Do you want to host a fundraiser and help give refugee and immigrant children a safe future? Click here to start fundraising.

Get The Latest News

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.

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Feature Resource

Key Protections for Unaccompanied Children as End of Title 42 Draws Near

With the end of Title 42 less than one month away, the Biden Administration can and must act now to implement countermeasures that will both restore orderly processing at the border and help ensure the U.S. government’s humane reception and care of migrant children. Unaccompanied children and those with families continue to arrive in record […]

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Feature Press Release

KIND Proposes Measures to Ensure Protection of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Post-Title 42

As the potential May 11 termination of the Title 42 border policy draws near, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) urges the Administration to take action to ensure the safety and protection of unaccompanied migrant children before and after this shift. Although unaccompanied children remain largely exempt from Title 42, KIND has long advocated against […]

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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