On August 28th, the Center of Excellence for Immigrant Child Health and Wellbeing (CoE) at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, in partnership with UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative’s Human Rights Collaborative launched its Oakland-based Pediatric Asylum Clinic. A first of its kind, this clinic was created in response to an emerging global call for pediatric asylum medical and psychological practitioners who can provide the necessary documentation of human rights violations specifically affecting young children and adolescents.
Each year, children and families from all over the world flee violence and persecution in their home countries and seek asylum in the U.S. According to Customs and Border Control, more than 18,000 unaccompanied children came across the border in March 2021 (twice the number from the previous month). Alameda County is the second largest county in California receiving unaccompanied minors. During the 2020-2021 school year, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) had close to 3,000 newcomer students enrolled. Of these students, 267 were asylees and close to 650 were unaccompanied minors.
With the number of unaccompanied migrant children and families on our border at an all-time high, there is a pressing and growing need for forensic evaluation and documentation of human rights violations. When a physician conducts a forensic exam, they are providing compelling evidence to be used during the child’s interview with the asylum officer or immigration judge. A forensic exam corroborates the testimony detailing why their home is too dangerous to return to. A study completed in 2018 found that asylum seekers with a medical evaluation performed by a health professional were granted asylum 89% of the time, in contrast with a national average rate of 37.5% for those that did not receive an evaluation.
Given the highly sensitive screening of the child’s mental, emotional, and physical health, a forensic exam can take three to four hours or more to perform. Using forensic medicine, the examiner is identifying and documenting signals of traumas such as torture, isolation, persecution, and abuse. Each evaluation is followed by a detailed report written by the examiner submitted for use in legal proceedings. From start to finish, it can take approximately two days to complete one forensic exam. Signs of trauma at times can be easily missed, therefore, exams can only be done by medical and psychological professionals trained in forensic evaluations. Currently, there is a tremendous shortage of qualified forensic examiners in Alameda County, particularly those trained in pediatric forensic exams.
For this reason, the CoE established this specialized clinic at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland for trained practitioners to train other providers to conduct these exams that take into consideration the unique needs of children and adolescents with respect to age, development and the effects of trauma. The clinic counts on a cross-bay team of dedicated volunteers including pediatricians, psychologists, pediatric nurse practitioners, social workers and interpreters from various UCSF campuses. The first Saturday clinic saw four Central American adolescents, providing 2 medical exams and 2 psychological exams. The CoE extends its deepest gratitude to our partners at HHRI-HRC and our first team of volunteers: Arielle Balbus, PsyD; Lisa Fortuna, PsyD; Arthur Lande, MD; Naomi A. Schapiro, RN, PhD, CPNP-PC; Martha Rea, LCSW; Patty Mundera, LCSW; and the CoE team: Raul Gutierrez, MD; Zarin Noor, MD; Lourdes Juarez, CPNP, MSN; Peggy O’Grady, LCSW; Griselda Marie Chavez, MA, Infant Development Specialist; Aura Aparicio, MA, Project Coordinator.
For more information about the Center of Excellence for Immigrant Child Health and Wellbeing: https://immigrantchild.ucsf.edu/
Currently, the Pediatric Asylum Clinic is held on the 4th Saturday of each month. If you are a community-based organization with pediatric asylum cases that can benefit from these services, contact: [email protected] or submit a referral directly to: https://humanrights.ucsf.edu/referrals.
L-R (top): Zarin Noor, MD; Naomi A. Schapiro, RN, PhD, CPNP-PC; Raul Gutierrez, MD; Martha Rea, LCSW;
Patty Mundera, LCSW; Lisa Fortuna, PsyD; Arthur Lande, MD; Peggy O’Grady, LCSW
L-R (bottom): Lourdes Juarez, CPNP; Arielle Balbus, PsyD
