Re: adopt orphans from iraq, turkey somalia, iran, afghanistan
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/urm.htm
The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program
Program Objective:The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program assists unaccompanied minor refugees and entrants in developing appropriate skills to enter adulthood and to achieve economic and social self-sufficiency.
Program Description: The State Department identifies refugee children overseas who are eligible for resettlement in the U.S., but do not have a parent or guardian. Upon arrival in the U.S., these refugee children are placed into the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) program and they receive refugee foster care and other services and benefits.
The program establishes legal responsibility, under State law, to ensure that unaccompanied minor refugees and entrants receive the full range of assistance, care, and services to which all children in the State are required; a legal authority is designated to act in place of the child’s unavailable parent(s). Reunification of minors with their parents, or other appropriate adult relatives is encouraged through working with supportive resources such as voluntary refugee resettlement agencies at the State and local levels. Services provided through the program include English language training; career planning; health/mental health needs; socialization skills/adjustment training; family reunification; residential care; education/training; and Ethnic/religious preservation.
Refugee children who enter the U.S. with a parent, but are unable to remain with them, may be eligible to participate in the URM program. ORR’s URM program guidelines provide the standards used to determine if such a child may be reclassified to URM status.
Children eligible for the URM Program are under age 18, and are:
Refugees (URM status is granted overseas)
Entrants (Reclassified to URM status after arrival)
Asylees (Reclassified to URM status when they are granted asylum)
Victims of Trafficking
Two lead voluntary agencies(volags) — The Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services (LIRS) and The United States Catholic Conference (USCC) — help ORR with the unaccompanied refugee minor program.
These agencies provide services ranging from identifying entrants and asylum children needing the benefits of the URM program to providing essential direct services to the minors through their affiliate agencies, inclusive of foster care placements, to recommending, researching, planning of URM program services.
Eligible Grant Applicants: N/A
Targeted Populations:
Children eligible for the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program (URM) are under age 18, and are: refugees (URM status is granted overseas), entrants (Reclassified to URM status after arrival), asylees (Reclassified to URM status when they are granted asylum), or victims of severe a severe form of trafficking.
Geographic Area(s):
Washington, DC; Boston, MA; Grand Rapids, MI; Lansing, MI; Fargo, ND; Philadelphia, PA; Seattle, WA; Phoenix, AZ; Jackson, MS; Newark, NJ; Richmond, VA; Tacoma, WA; Rochester, NY; Syracuse, NY.
URM Program Background:
The program was developed in the 1980’s, to address the needs of thousands of children in Southeast Asia without a parent or guardian to care for them.
Since 1980, almost 12,000 minors have entered the URM program. At its peak in 1985, ORR provided protection to 3,828 children in care. Now in various States, ORR has almost 700 children in URM care.
Policy Info:
45 CFR Part 400, Subpart H Child Welfare Services;
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 412 (a) (6);
INA section 412 (d) (2) (A);
INA section 412 (d) (2) (B);
Title V of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980;