Children and Youth
Home Study and Post Release Services
In our newly launched Home Study and Post Release Services program, CWS Jersey City provides case management for up to six months to unaccompanied children and their sponsors. In the Home Study component of the program, we visit the homes where children will be living prior to placement. Once a child is living with their sponsor, the Post Release Services component of our work begins. CWS JC caseworkers work with minors and sponsors to create an action plan. They set goals like finishing school, obtaining legal immigration status, and connecting to community support systems. The process takes place in the family’s preferred language. Cases are closed after six months, or when the minor turns 18 years old, or changes immigration status.
Youth Mentorship Program
Our Youth Mentorship Program, connects refugee, Asylees, Cuban and Haitian Entrants, victims of human trafficking and other Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) eligible youth to caring members of their community who provide invaluable support to youth as they adjust to their new lives. Mentors help youth learn to identify, and strive to achieve, their educational or vocational goals, facilitating integration and economic self- sufficiency. The program serves minors ages 15-24 and identifies members of the community willing to serve as mentors. Youth and mentors meet a minimum of once a month for six months and participate in at least one group activity.
Interested in becoming a youth mentor? Email volunteersjc@cwsglobal.org with the subject Youth Mentorship Program, and we will reach out.
Ukrainian and Afghan School Impact Programs
Our Ukrainian and Afghan School Impact program supports Afghan and Ukrainian minors, their families, and their school districts to help our clients achieve academic success. The program partners with school districts to support the engagement of school-aged children and youth in academic and non-academic activities, for parents/caregivers to engage with their children’s education, to facilitate student assets for school success, to support student achievement in English language proficiency, and to advocate with school systems to fulfill their obligations to uphold the rights of ELL and immigrant students to quality education. The objective is for students to be promoted to the next grade level by the end of the academic year.
Youth Wellbeing Project
The Jersey City project is creating a model for community-based support for unaccompanied children who are released from federal custody close to their 18th birthday who will soon become ineligible for post-release services and have no other means of ongoing support. The program serves minors for six months providing case management, group activities, and legal education.