Each year, thousands of unaccompanied children cross our borders, fleeing violence, abuse, and neglect. Rising Ground’s Passage of Hope program provides short-term shelter where we provide food, clothing, and emotional and medical support. The children learn about American culture, they learn English, and they attend school while we work to connect them with family members or other sponsors in the United States. For longer stays, children from birth to age 14 live with foster families in the community until they reunite with family or sponsors. At Passage of Hope, children move from danger to safety, from fear to hope.
After helping to reunite the children with the family members or other sponsor, we make sure that their new homes will be safe and nurturing by conducting home studies. Our From Hope to Home program consists of expanded home studies to further assess the safety of homes, and post release services. These services help connect the sponsor or family with the supportive services they need to ensure the child’s physical and mental well-being. This may include assistance with school and/or Medicaid and health insurance enrollment; connecting children and families to pro-bono attorneys to help with their naturalization/legal status; and assisting families with accessing food and other essential items.