SEEKING NY VOLUNTEER CHILD ADVOCATES!

The Young Center NY office will be hosting our next Volunteer Child Advocate training on September 7-8, 2024, for applicants interested in supporting unaccompanied immigrant children. Our application period will close on August 23, 2024.

The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advocate for the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children. The Young Center provides Volunteer Child Advocates (akin to guardians ad litem) for trafficking victims and other vulnerable immigrant children. These advocates are adults who volunteer to spend time with, and advocate on behalf of, an individual unaccompanied immigrant child while they are in federal custody and subject to immigration proceedings.

Currently, the NY office needs bilingual volunteers to conduct weekly in person visits for one-hour at a facility in NY. Please consider the volunteer requirements listed below to learn if becoming a Child Advocate is the right fit for you.

Volunteer requirements:

• Must be 21+ years of age.

• Must be fluent or highly proficient in Spanish, Mam, K'iche', Kekchi, or Chuj.

• Other languages considered at this time are fluency in Arabic, Dari, Farsi, French, and Portuguese.

• Must be able to travel to at least one of the facilities served by the Young Center in Westchester

County, Bronx, and Harlem.

• Must attend two-day in-person training.

• Must be able to clear all background checks.

• Must provide proof of a negative tuberculosis test within the past 12 months and a copy of

COVID-19 vaccination card to enter a detention facility.

• Must provide at least 2-3 contacts for reference checks.

• Must be willing to commit to approximately one hour per week to visit with an unaccompanied

child.