Keeping Kids Safe: A Seamless Safety Net for Children on the Move

Across the globe, a record number of children are migrating alone due to war, poverty, violence, disease, climate change, and political upheaval. In 2021, over 36 million children were forcibly displaced from their homes. More than half of the world’s 26 million registered refugees are children. Some of these children migrate alone, without a parent or guardian. In 2022, over 150,000 children arrived at the United States-Mexico border unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. Laws and policies governing the treatment of these unaccompanied children seeking safety in the United States do not adequately protect these vulnerable children.

A new campaign launched by Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) seeks to reimagine and transform the protection of unaccompanied children in the United States and globally. The campaign, Keeping Kids Safe: A Seamless Safety Net of Protection, is a 10-year initiative designed to transform outdated laws, shift conversations about child immigration to center child protection, and reform the way the current U.S. immigration system—and subsequently protection systems across the globe— treats children. Through policymaker and the public engagement, Keeping Kids Safe seeks to systemically reform the child immigration landscape so that it is rooted in child protection and well-being.