Urgent Need for Foster Families to Care for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

Faith and community groups nationwide are recruiting foster families as nearly 140,000 unaccompanied minors were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023.

• Faith and community groups across the U.S. are actively recruiting foster families to help move unaccompanied immigrant children from overwhelmed government facilities.
• U.S. authorities encountered nearly 140,000 unaccompanied minors at the border with Mexico in fiscal year 2023, with almost 10,000 still in custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
• Foster families provide stability and help children acclimate to unfamiliar U.S. customs and learn English.
• All foster families taking in unaccompanied migrant children must be licensed by their state, and often receive extra training specific to immigration law and trauma.
• Many of the children carry deep and increasing levels of trauma from what they had to flee in their countries and their journey to the United States.

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