Kids sue Tennessee Department of Children's Services over lack of immigration help

The Tennessee foster parents of three immigrant children have alleged the Department of Children's Services is failing to support their immigration needs, potentially costing the abandoned and neglected children a federal pathway to legal U.S. residency.

A group of undocumented immigrant children and a Memphis-based advocacy group have sued DCS, claiming the state has allowed youth in their custody to "age out" of the system without taking advantage of a federal program called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which is only available to minors.

"As the children’s legal guardian, DCS is uniquely positioned to access the necessary documents and information to pursue this form of relief, and often has custody of the children during the only time period when they are able to start the process," the lawsuit alleges. "DCS has a duty to support children pursuing this legal pathway as quickly as possible, and certainly before children turn 18 and the door to SIJS is closed forever."

The plaintiffs include a 15-year-old girl, who arrived in the U.S. unaccompanied after she was abandoned by her parents in Guatemala. DCS investigated her living situation last year, and she was removed from a relative's home after she became pregnant.

She is now in a long-term foster home, attending high school and raising her baby, the lawsuit states. Without legal status, she can't get a driver's license or work legally, and is at risk for deportation, though her parents have legally abandoned her and she wishes to stay in the U.S. with her child, a U.S. citizen.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Nashville, alleges the girl, identified as B.R., has received a summons from an immigration court. B.R's foster parent received "no substantive response" from DCS when seeking more information or assistance in addressing the girl's immigration needs, the lawsuit states.

"DCS’s failures seriously harm youth in the Class, who face the constant risk of being detained and ordered deported after aging out of foster care without obtaining SIJS," the lawsuit states. "The constant fear of deportation only further compounds the traumas these youth have already experienced by virtue of lacking legal immigration status and being in the foster care system, risking further harm to their emotional and mental health."

The lawsuit also argues without the special status, youth aging out of DCS are unable to legally work and "transition to independent adulthood."

"As a result, youth unable to obtain SIJS face poverty, exploitation, dependency on abusive adults, and limited socioeconomic mobility — the harms SIJS was created to avoid," the lawsuit states.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment at this stage in the litigation.

"The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is committed to acting in the best interest of Tennessee’s children and youth," the department said in a statement. "The Attorney General will handle next steps in the pending litigation."

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN Department of Children's services sued for not helping immigrants