 The Children's Village is an agency that has served immigrant youth for more than 150 years. The Agency's founding mission in 1851 was to shelter the orphaned and immigrant children roaming the streets of New York City. The TRAC Program brings CV full circle.
Children are referred to the TRAC Program by the Office of Refugee Resettlement while they are awaiting disposition of their refugee status. They are cared for in the transitional home until they are released from custody by ORR or returned to their home country by the State Department. Until recently, these children were held in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, but lawsuits over INS treatment of these children prompted lawmakers to transfer custody to the ORR as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
The CV TRAC Program is operated in a protective family-like and nurturing environment, encouraging emotional, intellectual, social, and physical growth. Services for the children include education, recreation, medical care, counseling, family reunification, and English language training, as well as other services to help them become self-sufficient, acculturated adults. The program provides shelter for up to 12 boys and girls in Queens and 12 boys in Dobbs Ferry. |
