Immigrant Children to be Reunified with Parents - U.S. Children Still in Limbo
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently holding about 2,000 children removed from their parents who are being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A Southern California judge has ordered the administration to reunite these children with their parents within 30 days, noting “the separations at issue have been agonizing for the parents who have endured them.”
The US Census reports that over 22 million U.S. children are living in households without both parents - only 17.5% of those are with their fathers. Minority communities bear a disproportionate burden including almost half of black families, and almost one-third of hispanic families living in households without both parents.
Most U.S. children living in single-parent households lose access to a parent. Courts force one of the parents to become a “visitor” in the child’s life, awarding less than one third of the parenting time in well over half of the cases. In a study from 2014:
In Wisconsin, nearly half of children get to spend less than 25% of their time with a parent.
In Washington State, more than half of children get to spend less than 35% of their time with a parent.
In Arizona, more than one-third of children get to spend less than 20% of their time with a parent.
Fathers across the united states are being stripped of their opportunity to parent children by the same courts that decry removing immigrant children from their parents. The trend of children living with their mother only has grown from eight percent in 1960 to almost 25% by 2012.
Researchers and child advocates across the U.S. have identified fatherlessness as a major concern. Studies have repeatedly found that shared parenting and involved fathering (more than 35% with an ideal of 50%) has measurable positive outcomes for children:
62% were less depressed, less stressed, and less agitated
Adolescents were less likely to feel the need to take care of their mother
Children are 30% less likely to be left in the care of a babysitter
Children are 39% more likely to get “A”s in school
Children are 60% less likely to be suspended
Children are 80% less likely to spend time in jail
Children are twice as likely to go to college or find employment after high school
As a father who has had a California court tear my children away from me, I know very well the pain and agony experienced by these immigrant families. I agree wholeheartedly with the judge’s assertion that these separations cause “irreparable injury” - I know that my relationship with my daughters has suffered and I know that their daily well-being has been negatively impacted since the courts made me into a “visitor” over my objections.
Each news story I read with public outrage at the removal of these immigrant children from their parents is a painful reminder that nobody cares about the millions of children being stripped from their fathers right here in the United States.
About the Writer: Curtis Vandermolen was a policy consultant with the California State Assembly for eight years. He has worked with the leadership of National Parents Organization on developing nationwide family law reform policies since 2002. Curtis is a father to four girls and a boy in his blended marriage with Dr. Emma Blackthorne. His former wife is still trying to limit his access to their two girls through the Sacramento County Superior Court.
