Family Reunification Monthly Update October 2021

Monthly Report The monthly report for October is due November 8th. Previous Monthly Updates August 2021 September 2021

Quarterly Network Call   The 4th network call is scheduled for Wednesday, January 12th 2 -3:30 PM EST The recording and handout for the 4th quarter network call of FY21 can be accessed here. USCCB Closings November 25-26 (Thanksgiving)

ORR Program Updates For a complete list of ORR policies and procedures, click here. UAM Abbreviated Home Study Report template Executive Order 14042 ORR Communication - PL 22-01 & PL 22-02 Here is the latest Federal Field Specialist (FFS) and Case Coordinator (CC) UAC program assignment lists as of October 2021. Please use these updated lists when submitting home study reports. Case Management Support Opportunity - To support case management staffing within the UC care provider network, ORR is providing grantees an opportunity to have the Providencia Group, a current ORR Case Management contractor, provide additional staffing for programs either through virtual or in person case management services. The contractor staff will be available to work evening and weekend hours. At this time, there will not be any additional cost to the grantees for this service. The case management services provided by the Providencia Group would be in addition to the grant-funded services and would be for periods not covered currently by the grant-funded case management staff. If you are interested in this opportunity or have any questions on this process, please contact your CSS and copy Simy Cuervo.

USCCB/MRS Program Updates Please see the current CSS program assignments below: John Abraham (jabraham@usccb.org) Catholic Charities Trenton, NJ International Christian Adoptions - ICA Catholic Charities Las Angeles, CA Catholic Charities Houston, TX Nikeita Lawrence (nlawrence@usccb.org) Catholic Charities San Antonio, TX Catholic Charities Arlington, VA Catholic Charities Boston, MA Catholic Charities Baltimore, MD Catholic Charities Newark, NJ Bethany Christian Services Maryland Simy Cuervo (scuervo@usccb.org) Catholic Charities San Diego, CA Catholic Charities Nashville, TN Catholic Charities Atlanta, GA Bethany Christian Services Florida Catholic Charities Cincinnati, OH Catholic Charities New York, NY *With the continued transition, CSS shortage and the increased case loads, we sincerely appreciate your ongoing patience and understanding. For matters that require immediate attention, please include "URGENT" in the email subject line.

Training NOTE: As we are nearing beginning 4th quarter of this fiscal year, all sub-recipient staff should have completed at minimum, 75% (30 hrs.) of the 40 annual training hours required by ORR. Mandatory Training: Pre-recorded** UAC Portal Trainings - Below are the updated links:   Cybersecurity Training Privacy 101 Training Rules of Behavior Pre-recorded**New ORR Training Requirement** - Trauma Informed Care: Understanding and Addressing the Needs of Unaccompanied Children New Directors Orientation New Program/Staff Onboarding Training: Introduction to Safe Passages Family Reunification Training (handout) Platforms Training (handout) Home Study Training (handout) * Post Release Services (handout) * Monitoring and Quality Assurance Training (handout) Program Operations Manual Training (handout) *Partial recordings due to technical difficulties Additional Training Opportunities: Pre-recorded (Webinar) - Who are the Afghan Newcomers? Understanding the Background and Socio-cultural Strengths and Needs of Afghan Evacuees to the United States Pre-recorded (Webinar) - Psychological First Aid (PFA) to Support Clients Affected by Crisis in Afghanistan November 3rd, 2pm EST (Webinar) - Parent Engagement Strategies in a Pandemic and Beyond November 3rd, 1 pm EST (Webinar) - Unaccompanied Minors: Changing the Narrative & Taking Action November 4th, 2 pm-3pm EST (Conference Call) - USCRI's monthly Legal Q&A Call for Social Service Providers Working with Unaccompanied Children. Click here to register. November 4th, 2021 - April 21, 2022 (Certification Course) - Trauma Certificate Course 2021, hosted by Nationalities Service Center, will take place November 4, 2021 to April 21, 2022 on Thursdays from 2-3:30 PM (via Zoom). This 6-month, 30-hour course is designed for case managers, lawyers, interpreters, interns and other direct and indirect service providers. The material will focus on working with refugee and immigrant populations but can be generalized to other client communities. This is a practical and strategy-focused training that will include lecture, readings, discussion, reflection interactive activities, guest speakers. November 5th, 2 pm-3:30 pm EST (Webinar) - Afghan Parole Stakeholder Engagement - During this webinar, we will provide an overview of parole with an update specific to Afghan nationals located outside of the U.S. who have submitted requests for parole. We will then hold a question and answer session. Parole allows an individual, who may be inadmissible or otherwise ineligible for admission into the U.S., to be paroled into the U.S. for a temporary period. November 9th, 2 pm-3 pm EST (Webinar) - Moving Beyond Mandatory Reporting from Recognizing, Reacting to Reporting to Resolving Child Maltreatment November 12th - January 31st, 2022 (Webinar Series) - UNICEF is hosting a new learning series, A Humanitarian Approach to Working with Migrant Children and Adolescents. Starting November 12th, the series aims to equip staff - at a variety of levels and prior experience - to support the wellbeing of migrant and displaced children in humanitarian contexts, such as those experienced in reception sites or border shelters during a surge of arrivals. Workshops draw from global guidance, programmatic interventions, and key skills, which have been applied in diverse humanitarian contexts around the world. The learning series consists of live, interactive workshops, delivered remotely. Participants can register for one or more of the workshops. See the following links for more information or to register. December 7th, 1 pm EST (Webinar) - Understanding and Supporting Children's Social-Emotional Development and Behavior as a Foundation for Healing and Learning December 9th, 2 pm EST (Webinar) - See My Color: Why Racial Colorblindness is Unethical January 22nd - 28th, San Diego CA (Conference) - The 37th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment (In-person, hybrid and virtual options) *In the event that you are unable to print the certificate of completion for any mandatory training, please take a screenshot of the final screen, including your training score, and forward it to your assigned CSS *FY21Training Tracker - Please note that the training tracker has been updated to include the new mandated trauma and UAC Portal training requirements. Please utilize this tracker moving forward.

Resources/News  MRSConnect Web Library BRYCS - Bridging Refugee Youth & Children's Service JFI Afghan Resource Page Digital Toolkit: Caring for the Caregiver COA/COV Guidance and FAQs Blog Post - Resources for Serving Afghan Evacuees CORE, Cultural Backgrounder: Afghanistan USAHello, Afghan Resources Center NRC-RIM, COVID-19 Resources for Afghan New Arrivals CLINIC, Guide to Client Documentation and Benefits for Afghan Parolees U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has released a fact sheet on Afghan immigrants’ employment rights. The fact sheet is available here: Employment Information Regarding Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Holders and Parolees. It is also available at the following links in Dari and Pashto: Dari Link and Pashto Link. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an updated fact sheet, based on recent legislative changes, to help states and advocacy organizations understand what health coverage options are available to Afghan Evacuees. Afghan evacuees arriving in the United States will be eligible for health coverage through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Health Insurance Marketplace, or refugee medical assistance (RMA or other health coverage provided by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)). RMA is provided through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and administered in most cases by state Medicaid programs. Eligibility for each coverage program depends on the state where an evacuee is residing and the eligibility criteria for the respective program. Learn more here.

Reminders  Director of Children's Services - As a reminder, Lindsay Shah is the new Director of Children's Services and should be included on NOCs for CPS involvement. Lindsay's email address is LShah@usccb.org. New Assistant Director of Family Reunification - As a reminder, Simy Cuervo is now the Assistant Director of Family Reunification. Please be sure to copy Simy (SCuervo@usccb.org) on all NOC and home study submission emails. Flagging Sponsors - Per ORR's request, please remember to specifically indicate in NOCs whether or not the sponsor should be flagged. This is particularly important as it pertains to NOCs for placement disruption, CPS, or lost contact. This should be noted in both the submission email as well as the NOC report Monthly reports are due the 2nd Friday of the following month. There are several data components from the reports that are used to complete subsequent reports that USCCB/MRS Safe Passages Family Reunification submits to ORR. Please remember to submit your monthly reports on time. The monthly report form can be found here. Capacity Issues - If any sub-recipient program experiences capacity issues due to staffing challenges, medical leave, etc., please notify your CSS immediately via email and be sure to include Minh Martinez, Child Placement Specialist. Please remember to change your UAC Portal password when prompted via email; as a precaution, be sure to check your spam folders for the alerts. Failure to update your password within the time indicated will result in suspension of your Portal account. Also, you MUST login to the Portal weekly/bi-weekly to prevent being locked out due to inactivity. Current NOC Template - This is the latest NOC template, reflecting our new ORR Project Officer (PO), Michelle Sheedy. Please use this updated template moving forward. This NOC flowchart can be used as a reminder of what constitutes a NOC and any additional persons that should be included on the submission email. Enhanced Post Release Services (ePRS) - As previously mentioned, ORR partnered with grantees of the National Center for Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) to provide post release services to eligible unaccompanied alien children (UAC) and their sponsors who will require intensive services to maintain placement and/or continued services to ensure that continuity of care and services are not disrupted. ePRS are currently available to UC discharged or reunified with a sponsor in the following states: in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, or Florida. Learn more about ePRS and the eligibility requirements here. If you have a UC to refer for ePRS, please complete this referral form and the referral process flowchart as it relates to subrecipient program staff. Migration Protection Protocols - Please continue to track/report Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) (also known as “Remain in Mexico”). Additional information on the MPP can be found here. Please review and complete the information indicated here for all cases in which a child reports being impacted in any capacity by MPP.

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