Safe and Efficient Release of Unaccompanied Children to Sponsors

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a program office of HHS's Administration for Children and Families, experienced a surge of unaccompanied children in spring 2021. As a result of this surge, ORR experienced difficulties in increasing its capacity to care for unaccompanied children; ORR-funded facilities also faced challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. The need to release unaccompanied children to fully vetted sponsors during a surge may have created vulnerabilities that could have put the children's safety at risk. To address this concern, we will conduct an evaluation of the implementation and efficiency of ORR's sponsor screening and followup processes at facilities during this surge, including the newly established intake and influx centers. This evaluation will determine to what extent: (1) proper steps were taken to safely release unaccompanied children to sponsors and (2) these processes were completed in an efficient manner.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
Revised	Administration for Children and Families	Safe and Efficient Release of Unaccompanied Children to Sponsors	Office of Evaluation and Inspections	OEI-07-21-00250	2023