{"id":597037,"date":"2018-06-28T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T14:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=597037"},"modified":"2018-06-28T13:23:46","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T19:23:46","slug":"heres-what-its-like-to-work-at-a-shelter-for-immigrant-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/heres-what-its-like-to-work-at-a-shelter-for-immigrant-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s what it\u2019s like to work at a shelter for immigrant kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_597042\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-597042\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Casa Padre\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/20180626-facilities-map-3x2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Immigrant children inside Casa Padre on June 14.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>BROWNSVILLE, Texas \u2014 The employees were in the ninth hour of another 12-hour shift Saturday afternoon at a converted Walmart now housing immigrant boys when a teenage resident took off.<\/p>\n<p>Staff members at the Casa Padre shelter had been trying for weeks to connect the 15-year-old with family. It didn\u2019t seem to be going anywhere. As a soccer game began, staffers watched as the boy dashed from the dirt field, clambered over the chain-link fence, jumped into a lake next to the building, then disappeared from view.<\/p>\n<p>He wasn\u2019t the first child to run away from a facility operated by the Southwest Key network, the largest licensed shelter provider for immigrant children caught crossing the border. Staff members went looking for him to try to convince him to stay, then stopped, accepting his departure with equal measures of exhaustion and futility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe staff came in at 6 a.m. This happened at 3, 3:30,\u201d said one employee at the shelter. \u201cPeople are just too tired. They don\u2019t have the strength. \u2026 Some of them are just like, \u2018You know what? Just go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/southwest-key-casa-padre-staff-immigrant-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ProPublica<\/a>, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom.\u00a0Sign up for their\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.propublica.org\/forms\/newsletter_daily_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>ProPublica spent the past several days interviewing seven current and former employees from Southwest Key facilities in Texas and Arizona who spoke on the condition of anonymity. \u201cWe have too many kids and not enough staff,\u201d one employee said.<\/p>\n<p>Their observations, coupled with court, police and regulatory records, provide a window into what it\u2019s like to work in a system pushed into overdrive, straining to serve an increasing number of traumatized kids amid the uncertainty of America\u2019s immigration system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe influx of immigrant children has stressed the entire system,\u201d said Southwest Key spokesman Jeff Eller. \u201cWe are no different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Southwest Key is equipped to care for 5,427 kids across 26 facilities in Texas, California and Arizona. Ninety percent crossed the border alone. On average, kids spend 52 days in Southwest Key shelters, then go home with friends or relatives who serve as their sponsors as they wait to make their asylum cases. Those who don\u2019t have someone here, or have sponsors afraid of submitting to a background check, can stay much longer.<\/p>\n<p>The children who have been separated from a parent under the Trump administration\u2019s zero tolerance immigration policy face even more challenges, as caseworkers struggle to locate parents in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, some of whom have already been swiftly returned to their countries. It\u2019s unclear how long those kids could stay at the shelters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are stuck there a long time, it will change you,\u201d one employee said. \u201cIn a matter of time, this kid is going to become more aggressive. He is just there like a little animal being caged.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Some punch walls, or other kids, or staff, according to employees and records. Some cut themselves or attempt suicide. After ending up in the hospital multiple times, one boy wrote a staff member to apologize: \u201cYou told me many times not to hurt myself but I continued to do it and now I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some take off running. One employee remembered a kid leaving during shift change, when supervision was scant; another recalled a runaway layering on three outfits at once for the journey.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, cops find the kids. Sometimes, they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Since October, 42 children have run away from the nonprofit\u2019s shelters. Eller says Southwest Key considers these kids to have voluntarily left. \u201cAs a licensed child care center, if a child attempts to leave any of our facilities, we cannot restrain them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are not a detention center.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though dozens of federal contractors house immigrant youth, Southwest Key, founded in 1987, leads the pack, receiving more than $950 million in federal contracts since 2015 for the shelters and other services. Along with housing immigrant children, the organization operates youth justice programs, charter schools and a series of business ventures that have their profits routed back into Southwest Key. A spokesperson said 85 percent of funds paid to Southwest Key by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an arm of the federal government established to support refugees and asylum-seekers, are directed to the costs of shelter, food, clothing, water, electricity and shoes.<\/p>\n<p>The organization has long been hailed by immigration advocates as a humane, culturally sensitive alternative to for-profit and government-run facilities. Staffers are expected to speak Spanish and taught to think of the residents as \u201cclients.\u201d Kids spend their days taking classes, playing basketball, watching movies and weaving brightly colored keychains. Basic medical help, education and counseling are all provided onsite.<\/p>\n<p>The American Civil Liberties Union represented Southwest Key in a 2015 lawsuit against Escondido, California, alleging the city was unfairly blocking the organization from opening a new children\u2019s shelter there. And UnidosUS, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, one of the leading Latino advocacy organizations in the country, has for years provided Southwest Key with grants.<\/p>\n<p>Clarissa Mart\u00ednez de Castro, a deputy vice president with UnidosUS, said the organization continues to support the nonprofit. The Trump administration, not Southwest Key, is responsible for separating children from their parents, she said. \u201cIf the government is going to do this, these children need folks who are going to provide them the best care possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/20\/separated-migrant-children-are-headed-toward-shelters-history-abuse-an\/&amp;sa=D&amp;ust=1530038507755000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHM40OLf7GM9nE_AUavOHLUk6EGhQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media scrutiny<\/a>, including ProPublica\u2019s interviews and reviews of records, has not unearthed the kinds of egregious abuse or neglect at Southwest Key facilities that plagues more troubled institutions like some foster homes or other immigrant youth shelters.<\/p>\n<p>Still, police show up to Southwest Key facilities with some regularity to respond to reports of runaways and suicide attempts. They arrive in the aftermath of fights between residents, or after a staff member has been hit while trying to subdue an angry kid. The police reports, which ProPublica obtained for four Southwest Key facilities in Brownsville, give a limited picture of complaints, since a public records law keeps private reports about juvenile defendants or victims who are 16 or younger.<\/p>\n<p>Former residents have said they were well treated \u2014 in sharp contrast to descriptions of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/karlazabludovsky\/teens-deported-mexico-detention-center?utm_term=.iiWxdlDvDW#.kc3a3EyAyg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">experiences<\/a> at U.S. Border Patrol facilities when they first arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, concerns about Southwest Key center on its staffing practices.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona regulatory records reviewed by ProPublica show that state inspectors found fault with Southwest Key\u2019s backgrounding process. In October, the nonprofit was fined for a number of shortcomings, including failing to provide records proving that some employees had been fingerprinted and allowing an employee to work 113 days without applying for a fingerprint clearance card.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/news\/southwest-key-hired-child-case-manager-previously-arrested-child-pornography\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas Monthly<\/a> reported that last year, Southwest Key\u2019s Casa Padre shelter in Brownsville employed a case manager who had previously been arrested on charges of child pornography possession. When the nonprofit\u2019s supervisors discovered his arrest record, the case manager was suspended and ultimately let go &#8212; but not until he had been allowed direct access to unaccompanied minors. A Southwest Key spokeswoman said the company\u2019s background check did not catch his arrest because it did not result in a conviction, but the organization acted as soon as it became aware of the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>The hard-to-predict ebbs and flows of immigrants coming across the border make properly staffing Southwest Key\u2019s facilities a challenge. Last spring, after the number of unaccompanied children entering the country dropped, the nonprofit was instructed by federal authorities that they would need half as many beds. Southwest Key laid off almost 1,000 employees.<\/p>\n<p>But by December, the organization was again looking to staff up. \u201cDo you want to make a difference in the lives of youth?\u201d read one ad.<\/p>\n<p>To get a job as a youth care worker, responsible for handling intake of new children, supervising them and assisting with educational events, one former Arizona employee said, \u201cYou could say, \u2018Oh I babysit my sister\u2019 and they\u2019d hire you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another former staffer in Arizona said she had no teaching experience when Southwest Key hired her as a teacher. \u201cI was very surprised they hired me, honestly. I was very surprised,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to a job fair and as soon as I got to the interview, they offered me the position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Southwest Key\u2019s spokesman said the nonprofit has \u201crigorous hiring standards\u201d and that \u201cno employee is officially hired until they have completed the entire onboarding process which includes background clearances.\u201d He said staffers undergo a minimum of 80 hours of classroom and on-the-job training before they can supervise a child, with an additional 40 hours of required training each year.<\/p>\n<p>But those interviewed by ProPublica said crisis training was limited to one day, and wasn\u2019t enough to help them navigate the sorts of situations they routinely encounter. \u201cIf I was put in a place to do (crisis intervention), I don\u2019t think I would have been able to,\u201d said a former Arizona staffer. Another employee in Texas said colleagues avoid intervening if a teen is acting out because they feel unprepared. \u201cI don\u2019t think we got a proper training,\u201d the employee said. \u201cNot for what you are about to go into.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Staffers say they wear multiple hats to fill gaps in coverage. A youth care worker might be switched to security duty; a teacher might be called upon to restrain a teen on the way to the hospital. A janitor doubles as a driver.<\/p>\n<p>Almost universally, employees complained of being worked to the bone. A current employee in Texas said that as new children started being bused in daily, management cancelled vacations and placed staffers on 12-hour shifts. Bathroom breaks are a challenge. Employees regularly wait hours after requesting to relieve themselves. One said a colleague got a urinary tract infection because she was forced to wait. Another recalled running into a colleague, who was distraught because she was on her period but had yet to be relieved from her post four hours after requesting a bathroom break.<\/p>\n<p>Employees have been abruptly quitting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStaffers are working really hard right now, and we always ensure that our programs are staffed at ratio to provide care for the children in our shelters,\u201d said Eller, the Southwest Key spokesman. \u201cOur employees are working overtime, but they understand the need and are earning generous overtime pay. We\u2019re also working to staff up as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The strain manifests itself in other ways. An employee at a Texas facility said the roof has been leaking and toilets are chronically clogged. Employees in Texas and Arizona said kids are sometimes left in dirty clothes. One employee, from Arizona, recalled noticing that the shoes given to a 5-year-old boy from Guatemala were way too big, but weeks passed and no one would replace them. \u201cI\u2019d watch him run, \u2018He\u2019s going to fall, he\u2019s going to face plant any day now,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Frustration boiled over when Juan Sanchez, Southwest Key\u2019s president and founder, who was reported receiving almost $1.5 million in total compensation in 2016, recently solicited employees for donations to help the kids, money the nonprofit said goes to scholarships. Southwest Key says it has a voluntary \u201cemployee give-back program\u201d that employees can opt into or out of at any time.<\/p>\n<p>A current staffer said Sanchez congratulated the staff for their hard work &#8212; then asked for a $10 weekly donation from their paychecks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made it sound like, \u2018Guys, I don\u2019t have the money, otherwise I would pay it out of my own pocket,\u2019\u201d the staffer said. \u201cMan, you have millions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who stay say they do so to hold onto above-minimum-wage jobs \u2014 tough to find in Brownsville, which has an unemployment rate almost twice that of the nation \u2014 and concern for children who are alone, coping with hardship and uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, it\u2019s a lot of stress, but you do something,\u201d said one employee. \u201cYou feel that you actually got to accomplish something\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the kids will actually ask you, are you going to come tomorrow?\u201d<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pixel.propublica.org\/pixel.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some facilities are so overstretched, employees often wait hours for a break to go to the bathroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":597042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-597037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}