The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights

The Young Center was founded in Chicago in 2004. The charge was to develop a program to advocate for the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children-even though US immigration law does not recognize children as distinct from adults.

The program started small. Attorneys and social workers with experience in children’s rights and immigration law supervised bilingual volunteers-Child Advocates-who spoke the children’s languages. They met with the children while they were detained, accompanied them to immigration court and advocated for their best interests every step of the way.

In 2008, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. One short paragraph provides for the appointment of Child Advocates whose role is to advocate for the child’s best interests, the first mention of the best interests standard for immigrant children.

In 2009, the Young Center opened an office in Harlingen, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Judges, detention staff, attorneys, even ICE officials began asking for Child Advocates. In 2013 Congress amended the law providing for expansion of the Child Advocate program. Today the Young Center has offices in Houston, San Antonio Phoenix, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, Harlingen, and Chicago.