ReUnite Volunteer Sign-Up

Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children are currently in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, waiting to be reunited with a family member or other loved one (known as a “sponsor”) who is willing to receive them into their home in the United States. In VECINA’s ReUnite project, we assist these sponsors in securing the release of their children from the U.S. government custody by helping them navigate the release and reunification process. VECINA is recruiting volunteers to help sponsors with paperwork, gather supporting documents, provide interpretation, and advocate for the release of a child. Join a team to help reunite a family!

Project Background

When unaccompanied immigrant children are apprehended by immigration officials after entering the U.S., they are transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), where they remain until they have been approved for release to a viable “sponsor” in the U.S.   The sponsors, who are family members or other loved ones of the children, must undergo a rigorous vetting process, which can be confusing and frightening to navigate alone.  Most unaccompanied children have a family member in the U.S. who can receive them, and for nearly half of these children, the family member is a parent.  Many of these children have entered the U.S. after fleeing violence and persecution in their countries of origin. 

The majority of unaccompanied minors are held in ORR shelters, but in times of influx, they are often held in Emergency Intake Sites — large, warehouse-like facilities — that are not appropriate or safe for children, and where staff are not equipped or trained to properly care for them or manage their release process.  The suffering that these already-traumatized children experience in custody compounds each day that they are detained.

So, in the midst of the largest influx of unaccompanied minors to date in the spring of 2021, VECINA launched the ReUnite project with the aim of helping the loved ones of detained unaccompanied children seek their release and reunite with them more quickly.  These sponsors would contact VECINA to inform us that they needed help with the reunification process, and through ReUnite, we would assign a team to assist them, generally consisting of a pro bono attorney, an administrative support volunteer, and an interpreter. 

As the influx of 2021 subsided, we began to receive ReUnite referrals that were more complex than the cases we originally placed, which usually followed a similar pattern.  Now, most of the cases we place are of sponsors who are struggling with the reunification process because they are experiencing particular barriers.  Some sponsors do not receive the necessary interpretation services from the government in their language. Others may struggle to complete all of the documentation requirements.  Others may have been denied the release of their child for reasons that are not in line with government policy.  In all of these cases, ReUnite is there to help sponsors overcome the barriers to a successful reunification. 

In some instances, ReUnite assists with cases where an unaccompanied minor has yet to enter the U.S., but has a quickly-approaching entry date.  In these cases, ReUnite’s pro bono teams work with the child’s intended sponsor to help them complete as much of the reunification paperwork as possible in advance of the child’s entry, with the aim of submitting the paperwork to the government right away once the child is detained to reduce the amount of time the child spends in custody.

To date, ReUnite has provided reunification and post-release support to over 1,200 families. Over 360 of these children’s sponsors received direct legal representation in the release and reunification process from one of VECINA’s volunteer teams. ReUnite remains the only program in the United States that provides pro bono legal assistance to sponsors to help them secure the release of detained unaccompanied minors.


Current Need

We are currently at the beginning of another influx of unaccompanied minors.  While the precise number of cases we will receive is somewhat unpredictable due to the ever-changing immigration landscape, we want to be as prepared as possible to meet family reunification needs as they arise.

**We recently put out a request for 10 more volunteer attorneys, 10 more admin support volunteers, and more volunteer interpreters (especially Haitian Creole). We are so thankful to have had more than the needed number of admin support volunteers sign up, so we are no longer accepting more admin support volunteers at this time. We are still in need of more attorney volunteers and volunteer interpreters in languages other than Spanish, as we are very fortunate to already have many volunteer Spanish interpreters lined up to help with these cases. We will reopen this volunteer opportunity to admin support volunteers and Spanish interpreters in the future. Thank you for your understanding!

This opportunity is entirely remote! As a reminder, work with this project is done on a volunteer basis. This is not a paid opportunity.
  

Time Commitment and Case Length

Each volunteer can expect to spend approximately 8-10 hours over the duration of a ReUnite case, which includes the ~1.5 hour online training and the case work.  Each case can last anywhere from a week to a few months, depending on the complexity of the case.  Because these cases involve detained children, it is important for volunteers to work as efficiently as possible on their cases.  Once we place a case with a team of volunteers, we ask that volunteers contact the client within 24 hours to begin working on the case, given that these cases involve detained children and time is of the essence.

Training and Mentorship from VECINA

VECINA offers a ~1.5 hour online family reunification course to prepare volunteers for this opportunity.  It is expected that each volunteer will complete this course prior to beginning a case.  We also provide a detailed list of suggested action items that are customized for each case so the volunteers have a roadmap to follow throughout their case.  We provide resources such as templates, FAQs, and ORR policy guidance.  Additionally VECINA staff check in with volunteer teams throughout their case are available to provide technical support for any questions or issues that arise. It is NOT necessary to have any background in immigration law to volunteer with this project.

Getting Started

We are looking to have our new volunteers sign up and take the training as soon as possible so you are ready to dive in when we have a case to place with you. To get started, please complete the sign-up form below. Click here to learn more about each volunteer role. Once you submit the form, you will be linked to our volunteer agreement and our online course for the project. You must sign the agreement and complete the online course before beginning a case, so please try to work through these items as quickly as possible so you’re ready to go!


Take a look!

  • You can hear some of our volunteers speak about their ReUnite experiences here:
  • Watch a client reunite with her two young grandchildren in the airport after her ReUnite volunteer team helped secure their release from government custody.
  • Watch another young child reunite with his grandmother after a ReUnite team worked on this reunification case.  The two were separated at the border by immigration officials.
  • Read this Time Magazine article featuring a ReUnite story.


Questions?

Anyone who has questions about this volunteer opportunity is welcome to contact ReUnite Director Molly Chew at molly@vecina.org.


Thank you again for volunteering! We look forward to working with you on this project!

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
City, State and Country where you are located*
*Even though this volunteer opportunity is fully remote, please do not list your location as “remote.” We need your location to assess what time zone you are in, as we do our best to match volunteers with a client and other volunteers who are in the same time zone. This is not always possible, but we do try.
We recently put out a request for 10 more volunteer attorneys, 10 more admin support volunteers, and more volunteer interpreters (especially Haitian Creole). We are so thankful to have had more than the needed number of admin support volunteers sign up, so we are no longer accepting more admin volunteers at this time. We are still in need of more attorney volunteers and volunteer interpreters in languages other than Spanish, as we are very fortunate to already have many volunteer Spanish interpreters lined up to help with these cases. We will reopen this volunteer opportunity to admin support volunteers and Spanish interpreters in the future. Thank you for your understanding!
To volunteer as an interpreter with this project, you do NOT need to be a professional or certified interpreter, but you must be fully fluent in both English and the language for which you are interpreting.
If you do not fluently speak any languages other than English and your client (the sponsor) needs interpretation, we will make sure to assign a volunteer interpreter to your team.
Do you already work or volunteer with any of the following groups or organizations? Select all that apply.*
*We need to ensure that you are not affiliated with any groups or organizations that would create a conflict of interest for you to work on this project. If you are unsure if there would be a conflict, please email ReUnite Director Molly Chew at molly@vecina.org.
*This is not required to work on this project.
If you answered 'yes' to the previous question, do you agree to sign the volunteer agreement and complete the online training course (~1.5 hours) for this project right away, so that you are ready to begin a case? You will be linked to both of these items after you click "Sign up" at the bottom of this page.*
*If you would like to be paired with a specific volunteer on a case, please let us know who that person is and whether that person would be volunteering as an attorney, administrative support, or interpreter. Please note that we generally assign one attorney, one administrative support, and one interpreter for each case.
*This would include things such as vacations, etc. You can always let us know later if your availability changes.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.