International Response to Family Separation

Reunifying Separated Families Across Borders

In summer of 2018, KIND’s International Programs team launched the Central American Separated Families Reunification Project to provide a transnational response to the complex cases of the family separation crisis. Many parents are not only forcibly separated from their children, but also deported to their countries of origin, leaving their children behind in the U.S. Building on KIND’s relationships in Central America, the project reunites children with their parents in the country of origin or the United States, provides psychosocial services to reunified families to restore family bonds, and identifies potential solutions for deported separated families with protection needs. In 2021, KIND began providing legal representation in Humanitarian Parole applications to help families reunify in the United States under the Biden Administration’s Family Reunification Task Force. As of May 2023, KIND has assisted over 2,200 families with cross border separation cases.

Family Reunification Project FAQs

Through this project KIND:

  • Counsels deported parents harmed by family separation in 2017 and 2018 to determine preferences regarding reunification with their children, and assists in family reunification efforts where the parent has been deported and the child remains in the United States.
  • Facilitates and provides logistical support for reunification of returning separated children with their parents in Central America.
  • Provides ongoing psychosocial support to reunified separated families in Central America to heal familial bonds.
  • Works to identify and assist newly separated families where the parent may still be in the United States or has recently been deported.
  • Screens deported parents and deported separated families for protection needs and identifies potential regional solutions.
  • Provides legal representation in Humanitarian Parole applications to help families reunify in the United States under the Biden Administration’s Family Reunification Task Force.

To refer a child or family for support services, please contact hp@supportkind.org. 

KIND’s partners on the ground; in Honduras: CASM (Mennonite Social Action Committee) and Casa Alianza; in Guatemala: ASOCIACIÓN POP NO’J and ECAP (Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial)

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Family Separation Response in the U.S.

Family Separation Response in the U.S.

Learn more about KIND's response to the family separation crisis and what we are doing to help separated children and families domestically.

European Initiatives

European Initiatives

Read more about KIND's international work and new initiatives taking place in Europe to help unaccompanied refugee children.

Educate Yourself

Educate Yourself

Learn more about the issues and root causes affecting migrant children.