Page 96 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

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Status (SIJS)6 .
As a baby, Kay arrived in New York and was never aware that she was undocumented . By the time she learned about her legal status, she had two babies of her own and a shaky relationship with her children’s father, Ollie . Ollie also was in foster care and also had left placement . Kay went back to her foster care agency to try and obtain her birth certificate and other identification documents and there she learned about SIJS . SIJS is available to some children who are present in the United States without legal immigration status and may be in need because they have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent . SIJS would have given Kay lawful permanent residence status, but at the time Kay learned about this, the steps to access this status were not clear to her and time was not on her side . SIJS for Kay was never a possibility because she did not have access to the information in a timely way and had turned 21 years old two weeks earlier . There are other remedies to obtain lawful status for Kay to pursue, but Kay never had access to SIJS .
Access to justice can be defined as the ability to know that information is out there that may inform you and impact you and with that knowledge, have the ability to seek a formal or informal forum to be heard and learn what possible remedies are available . Gaps in access to justice exist if people, notably the poor and the vulnerable including current and former foster children like Kay, suffer from the injustice of lack of knowledge and do not have the ability to make their grievances or issues known or heard . Kay’s lack of information encumbered her access to justice to obtain her green card via SIJS, even though she had been a ward of the state for years . Being undocumented impacts every aspect of her life . The government, laws, and the courts are vessels for increasing access for people with little to no access . Kay has not been able to go to school and works at a low-paying job with no benefits .
II. Adults in Child Protective Investigations
As an adult, Kay returned home with her three children at the end of a long work day and found a note at her door stating that child protective services had been to her apartment to investigate her for neglect of her children . An anonymous state central registry report7 was called in alleging that Kay takes drugs and her children do not regularly attend school . Neither of these allegations was true and many months later the report was deemed unfounded . Kay had recently completed a series of court dates in housing court where she prevailed over her landlord . She was looking
6 See INA § 101(a)(27)(J), codified at 8 u.S.C. § 1101(a)(27)(J).
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) allows undocumented children under the age of 21 who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both parents to obtain lawful, permanent immigration status within the united States. Qualifying children must meet the criteria codified in § 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act:
1. The applicant must be under 21 years old;
2. he/she must be unmarried;
3. he/she must be declared dependent upon the state – this means that a state court has taken jurisdiction over a petition addressing the needs of the applicant;
4. Reunification with one or both of the applicant’s parents must no longer be a viable option; AND
5. It is not in the best interests of the applicant to return to his/her country of nationality or last habitual residence.
safe Passage ProJecT, sPecial immigranT JuVenile sTaTus: a sTeP-by-sTeP guide for safe Passage ProJecT VolunTeer aTTorneys 7 (updated Nov. 23, 2014), available at http://www.safepassageproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ SIJS-Manual-11.24.2014-CT-FINAL-AMENDED.pdf?.
7 The Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, receives reports of child abuse and neglect. Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, N.Y.S. office of children & family serVs., http://ocfs.ny.gov/main/cps/.
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice