During an interview with NPR’s “1A” podcast on Monday, January Contreras, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families, which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, defended the vetting of sponsors who migrant children are placed with in light of a New York Times report on migrant children being used in child labor and said that “It is not my expectation that there are big changes to be uncovered” in the vetting process from the audit of how the Office of Refugee Resettlement has vetted the sponsors of migrant children.
Contreras said, [relevant remarks begin around 9:05] “Well, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is made up of really incredible people who are working with a focus on the safety of the kids we serve every single day. And so, there [are] two values in that. One is safety is the number one value of this throughout, we’re making sure that our vetting processes are what they need to be. And, at the same time, we know that we can do that safely, 85-90% of the time we are, in fact, placing children with their own family members. And we want to do that in a way that they don’t have to spend too much time in large congregate care settings. … So, we’re working to do that, but we are working to do that in very safe ways. And again, 85-90% of the time, reuniting kids with their own family.”
She further stated, “When it comes to vetting, we have a process that looks at people’s backgrounds. We’re making sure that we don’t see red flags there, and if we do, then we put an extra-vigilant…scrutiny in place. In terms of follow-up, this has been a priority of this administration and continues to be. Since the beginning of the administration, HHS has doubled the number of children and families receiving services and well-being checks after they leave our care. So, I think it’s important to understand that all the public servants that are at the Office of Refugee Resettlement have been very focused on making sure that we’re increasing those services, that we’re building those checks into young people after they leave our care.”
Host Jenn White then asked Contreras if she’s confident in her numbers in light of The New York Times investigation finding that around two-thirds of unaccompanied migrant children are working full-time and if she thinks the vetting or follow-up processes should be reevaluated.
Contreras answered, “These numbers, definitely accurate. And it’s something that this administration has worked hard to prioritize in terms of reaching out to provide some level of touch[ing] bases. So, we’re checking in with the kids — or making that follow-up call to ask, are kids in school, do you know when your immigration court date is coming up, are there any services that a child or their family needs to be connected to?”
She added that more should be done to hold companies that use child labor accountable and HHS will work with the Department of Labor’s efforts to crack down on child labor.
Later, White asked about reports in the Times article about children who called the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s hotline to report abuses, but got no follow-up.
Contreras responded, “The National Call Center is a tool that’s in place for any kinds of concerns or just questions for the young people that we serve, as well as their families or their sponsors or others. The article that you were talking about did mention two young people who didn’t receive follow-up. What we do is, when we do receive any kind of question or concern, let’s say someone is not in school, we, through the Call Center, a specialist will then report that to Child Protective Services, as for any child when the child is not in school. That’s the part of the infrastructure that we have, that youth-centered infrastructure that exists throughout the country. So, our Call Center would make a call to them so that they can follow up on that. And what we’ve said is that, knowing that we had at least these two young people who didn’t receive follow-up, that we’re also letting the children know — giving them the phone numbers as well. We want to be able to — if there is any child labor involved, we want to make sure we’re giving them the Department of Labor hotline phone number, that we are sharing resources directly with those young people.”
Later, White asked, “To use your numbers, what does that mean for the 10-15% of children who are in unsafe conditions right now?”
Contreras answered, “Well, I definitely would not agree that the 10-15% are in unsafe situations. Again, a lot of care, and especially when we’re talking about that 10-15%, so much scrutiny goes into place to make sure those are safe settings.”
White then cut in to ask, “But again, do you agree that it’s not enough scrutiny, that clearly some kids are falling in the cracks?”
Contreras responded, “I don’t think that that number has anything with less scrutiny, because there’s a lot of scrutiny. What we’re talking about today is child labor, and what we’re working against in this space, and also increasing our — the visibility of with the kids we serve and with their families and sponsors is what child labor laws are in our nation.” She continued by stating that “the violence that exists where they’re coming from, the poverty, the instinct to survive that sends these kids to our country, a country that cares enough to put HHS and Office of Refugee Resettlement services in place, they’re here to survive. And part of that survival is sending home to their families.”
White then cut in to ask, “Well, one of the commitments being made is an audit of how the Office of Refugee Resettlement has vetted sponsors of unaccompanied migrant children in the past. Very briefly, will the information from this audit be made public?”
Contreras answered, “I can’t speak to what the rollout would be of that. But I can say this, we are constantly looking at that vetting process. It is not my expectation that there are big changes to be uncovered, because there’s been so much work in it. But every time we learn something new and the increase [in] employers using kids for child labor is certainly the kind of factor that makes us go back and look again and see if there are other things that we can be adding into what is a very vigilant process.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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