RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia has become home to thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America in recent years, but the level of support services they receive when they step into a classroom varies widely depending on where they live.
Since the fall of 2013, the federal government has placed nearly 7,300 unaccompanied minors with adult sponsors in communities across Virginia, where they are expected to attend school while they await an immigration court hearing. Only Texas, California, Florida, New York and Maryland have accepted more migrant youth than Virginia.
Many of the children arriving from war-torn countries have suffered emotional trauma and face unique educational challenges. But while some Virginia schools have made connecting immigrant children with social services a priority, more needs to be done to aid these vulnerable students, advocates say.
“Understandably, schools feel this is a huge challenge but I think these kids are incredibly resilient and resourceful and smart and it can be a great opportunity if a school does it right,” said Becky Wolozin, an attorney who assists immigrant children with educational challenges. She is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Legal Aid Justice Center.
The federal government has placed more nearly 104,000 unaccompanied minors in communities nationwide since 2013, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Most of the children that have been placed in Virginia are living in the state’s northern communities of Washington.
In Alexandria, where 440 unaccompanied youth have been placed, school officials have created a special program that integrates students’ English language studies into their normal coursework.
At the International Academy at T.C. Williams High School, which has more than 500 students, psychologists and social workers also work with the children and their families to ensure both the emotional and educational needs of the student are being met, school officials say.
“The model is just very supportive of immigrant students, in particular during this time we had that surge that everyone experienced of unaccompanied minors,” said Bethany Nickerson, executive director of the Office of English Language Learner Services for the district. It’s unclear how many of the unaccompanied minors are attending public school in Alexandria because school officials said they don’t distinguish between them and other children.
Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner said he has made a big push to improve the services for children who’ve experienced trauma by hiring more mental health counselors, psychologists and social workers. But he said he believes the federal government should be assisting schools with the added cost of serving these students.
“I love having these kids,” Kizner said. “And I’ll never criticize these kids for being here.”
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Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aedurkinricher . Her work can be found at https://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer
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