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 News from Around the Americas | April 2007 
Help for Immigrant Children in Monterey County
 Claudia Meléndez Salinas - montereyherald.com
Children of Mexican descent taken by child protective services now have a fast line to relatives in the country of their ancestry.
Monterey County officials signed an agreement Tuesday that would allow children born in Mexico or born to Mexican parents to receive legal assistance from the Mexican Consulate in San Jose that would eventually allow for reunification with relatives in the United States or Mexico.
Of 400 children in the care of child protective services, about 60 percent are Latino. Many of them are presumed to come from Mexican families.
Elliott Robinson, director of the Monterey County Department of Social and Employment Services, said the department doesn't keep track of how many of the children are born in the United States.
The agreement establishes rules to ensure that the Mexican Consulate, which has jurisdiction over Mexican nationals living in Monterey County, is notified when children of Mexican descent are taken from their homes so assistance can be offered to the family.
The agreement "ensures representation under the Vienna treaty of consular relations between Mexico and the United States," said Robinson, during a presentation to the Board of Supervisors. "It puts together a platform to ensure... (our) doing a better job at connecting families with children so lifelong relations can be assured."
Child protective services intervenes when it considers children to be in danger. Children can be removed from their homes and placed in protective custody, usually in foster homes. But for relatives in Mexico who seek custody of the child, distance, language and local requirements are often insurmountable hurdles.
The Mexican Consulate will serve as liaison between Mexican and U.S. institutions to evaluate the fitness of the family who wants to take care of the children in question.
"Immigrant families face too many tragedies of separation, husbands from wives," said Bruno Figueroa, the departing Mexican consul. There are "too many stories (about) minors separated from their parents and lives are changed forever."
Monterey County joins Sacramento, Santa Clara, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, which have similar agreements.
After the agreement was approved, supervisors praised Figueroa and his work in Monterey County during his three-year stint in California. Figueroa will leave in a few weeks to become an alternate representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international research organization headquartered in Paris that fosters economic growth.
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at cmelendez@montereyherald.com. |
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