Media Advisory
Contact: Rena Daly – rdaly@cc-md.org
June 28, 2018
667-600-2007 mobile #: 646-263-6384

 

Staff and Supporters of Catholic Charities and its Esperanza Center Participate in Keep Families Together Rally in Washington, DC

WHAT: Catholic Charities joins Keep Families Together Rally and pledges its support to assist and unite children with their families. EDITOR’S NOTE: Media interviews with Catholic Charities leadership prior to bus departure
WHEN: Saturday, June 30, 2018 – 7:45 a.m. make signs, 8:15 a.m. Board the Bus, 8:30 a.m. Depart for D.C. and 4:30 p.m. approximate return
WHERE: 725 Fallsway, parking lot of Our Daily Bread Employment Center
WHO: Bill McCarthy, Executive Director of Catholic Charities –MD

While President Donald Trump’s June 20 executive order is intended to end the separation of families entering the U.S. at the southern border, there are still no answers for how families already separated will be reunified. The 2,300 children who have been separated will likely be treated as unaccompanied minors and placed in the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s family reunification process until they can be released to an appropriate family member sponsor. Without such a sponsor, they may remain in long-term shelter or foster care facilities.

Children traumatized by conditions at home, the journey, separation, detention or other parts of this process will be impacted for years. We need humane and compassionate laws and policies that realize American values of hope and refuge for those in need.
BACKGROUND: Catholic Charities of Baltimore is Maryland’s largest private provider of human services, offering assistance to children and families, people experiencing poverty or homelessness, individuals with intellectual disabilities, immigrants and seniors without regard to religion, race or other circumstances. With more than 80 programs in 200 locations throughout Central Maryland. www.cc-md.org.

Catholic Charities’ Esperanza Center’s Family Reunification Services helps to reunite recently arrived unaccompanied youth with their family and sponsors. Services include: fingerprinting and assistance with the family reunification packet; home studies; post-release services to ensure the well-being of minors, and assistance with the challenges related to reunification after separation. In partnership with and funding from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Esperanza not only reunites children with their family member/sponsors but also provides access to immigration legal services, health care, mental health services, school registration, and language classes. Since 2013, when the Family Reunification Program at Esperanza began its work, the Esperanza Center has helped to reunite more than 2,700 unaccompanied children with a sponsor.
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