The Ukrainian Orphan Crisis and Refugee Adoption
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0160 |
By Susan M. Brown
The war between Russia and Ukraine presents a crisis for many children. This article, while written almost entirely before the onset of Russia's war against Ukraine, may have life-saving application for clients to partner with orphan-care advocates seeking to bring these orphans into stable and safe American homes.
On February 28, 2022, the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine released emergency policies for orphaned children to leave the country with only a passport and a birth certificate.1 Shortly after that, that same minister limited the emigration of orphans based on concerns of human trafficking by foreign citizens attempting to subvert the normal Ukrainian adoption process.2 On March 4, 2022, the minister released amended policies whereby orphans could leave the country with legal permission granted from either the orphanage director or the local province wherein an orphan was placed into foster care.3
Over 1.5 million Ukrainians have evacuated Ukraine for Poland and most likely the same or a higher number to Romania. Because of these swift efforts of Ukrainian officials, orphan-care advocates, and caregivers, thousands of orphans have been safely evacuated. Yet, the temporary housing available in Poland and Romania is insufficient to meet the growing need for care for the orphans who have arrived there.
As Americans seek to help the Ukrainian refugees - adults and children - they will need legal advice. This article aims to help you guide your clients through the decision-making process and learn about possible avenues at local, state, and federal levels.
Gaining U.S. Entry
There are multiple procedural paths by which a foreign child might come into the U.S. The most obvious for Ukrainian orphans is to seek refugee status. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS), a refugee is someone who: 1) is located outside of the United States; 2) is of special humanitarian concern to the United States; 3) demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group; 4) is not firmly resettled in another country; and 5) is admissible to the United States.4
Refugees are admitted on a case-by-case basis upon interview by a USCIS Officer. The process begins with a USCIS Form I-590 for the child, and the forms, along with detailed instructions on how to use it, are available on the USCIS website.5
Another possible path to entry for a foreign orphan is Protection from Harm Parole. This special designation for temporary entry applies to children who face imminent harm in their home country and have no other means of protection. USCIS provides detailed forms and instructions.6 To support the application, you will have to provide supporting evidence such as the severity and imminence of the harm the child fears, the child's particular vulnerabilities, that parole is the only available mechanism for protection, and that relocation to another part of the child's home country or a neighboring country is not possible or would not prevent the harm the child fears.7 However, be aware that according to USCIS, "[p]arole is generally not intended to be used to avoid normal refugee processing or to provide protection to individuals at generalized risk of harm around the world."8
The most streamlined entry for orphans currently emigrating from Poland or Romania may be through an accredited visiting program. This provides a quicker temporary visa using forms B1 or B2 Visitor Visas. Once again, USCIS has forms and instructions.9
Next, if your client is caring for a Ukrainian child already in the U.S., the child may be eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security "may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country's nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately."10 On March 3, 2022, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced a new designation of Ukraine for TPS for 18 months.11 However, this will only benefit Ukrainian individuals who were residing in the U.S. since March 1, 2022. Essentially, it prevents Ukrainian nonimmigrants from having to return to Ukraine for the next 18 months.12
The goal of these paths to entry is just that: entry. They do not grant citizenship, but only temporary safety. If your clients have a child in need of a more permanent situation, there is a little-known avenue for permanency and long-term protection: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJ). This special status provides a seldom-used path to safety for at-risk foreign children.
SIJ Basics
A common means of providing at-risk foreign children permanent care and citizenship is adoption. International adoptions require chess-like maneuvering, to say the least. Even the simplest involves two to three courts, three to five governments (national, state, local, foreign, domestic), and at least two to three U.S. federal agencies. For at-risk children who are already in the U.S., however, the normal process simply doesn't fit. Normally, foreign courts initiate the adoption process, and adoptive parents must be thoroughly vetted and spend time in-country before bringing the child here. Typically, visas and immigration issues are resolved before the child enters the country.
This is not so with children temporarily in the U.S. who have been subjected to abuse, abandonment, or other harm in their home country. How can they be kept safe when returning home to begin the typical international adoption process is so dangerous? Cases - even outside of the refugee context - are easy to imagine: A child visiting family, a young student sent to study in the U.S., a child here with a foreign sports team for an invitational tournament...
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