Solid ground for the most vulnerable of visitors

Every year, tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children are caught entering the United States without the requisite permissions or a legal guardian to care from them at their intended destination. The vast majority come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and their lack of immigration status leaves them extremely vulnerable, and often in need of help.

Terra Firma is the first medical-legal partnership in the U.S. specifically designed for unaccompanied immigrant children. The partnership between Catholic Charities Community Services, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore and the Children's Health Fund aspires to empower immigrant children to develop resilience, attain stability, and reach their full potential. Operating out of a federally qualified health centre, Terra Firma has served a culturally-diverse cohort of more than 500 children, adult caretakers and family members since opening its doors to a dozen immigrants in 2013. They can access co-located medical, legal and mental health services in an integrated, holistic setting. Services are free, bilingual, culturally-sensitive and trauma-sensitive.

Terra Firma also defends clients in deportation cases, supports their needs in housing, insurance and education, and provides English-language instruction to help them integrate. It's breaking down silos in service delivery by extending access to a wider array of community activities including photography workshops, English classes and soccer games. Their work has also taken them beyond the South Bronx, from detention centres in Texas to migrant shelters in Mexico.

The need for such services has never been greater as immigrant communities feel the pressure of a hostile administration which has overseen the family separation crisis, the “Muslim ban” and the move to deport America's so-called “Dreamers”. Requests from other organisations seeking to duplicate this wraparound service model in other locations throughout the United States are a testimony to that need, and the value of Terra Firma's work.