Berkeley Social Welfare faculty member Dr. Kristina Lovato is featured in a recent Mother Jones article examining the experiences of immigrant and unaccompanied youth and the impacts of immigration enforcement on their well-being. Her scholarship continues to inform national conversations on equity, child welfare, and immigration policy.
The challenges faced by unaccompanied minors go well beyond room and board. Hiring an immigration lawyer is expensive, and free legal help is in short supply. So are bilingual therapists, notes Kristina Lovato, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has interviewed unaccompanied minors about the “triple trauma” of escaping hardship at home and surviving migration only to end up in hostile environments. Havens like the SWB team can help, but “not being welcome,” Lovato says, “does a lot to one’s psychosocial development and psyche.”