'It's an alternative to a detention center': Refugee, 3, finds foster home in Lansing area
LANSING — A toddler who came to the U.S. as a refugee has found a temporary home in the Lansing area.
The 3-year-old girl arrived at Bethany Christian Services in East Lansing in early June, said Hannah Mills, transitional foster care program manager at Bethany Christian.
She had a member of her extended family with her at the border, but they were separated, Mills said. Her biological parents were back in Central America in her home country. Mills declined to say what country the toddler was from for her safety.
The toddler is living with a foster care family in the Lansing area.
"She's quite young and is struggling with getting adapted to the setting," Mills said.
Usually, Bethany would assign a caseworker to each child while they were in foster care. The caseworker would work to reunify the child with any family they had in the U.S. and aim to get them out of foster care and back into the care of relatives.
But this child's caseworker is pursuing voluntary departure to go back to her home country so she can be back with her parents, Mills said.
East Lansing's Bethany branch just started the refugee foster care program in May, and the 3-year-old is their first child.
"We believe every child deserves to be in a home setting," Mills said. "This model is definitely really important...it's an alternative to a detention center. "
After children are detained at the border, they're taken into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. That office makes referrals all across the country to organizations like Bethany, which helps place the children in foster homes.
Bethany Christian Services: Who are they?
That's how the toddler ended up in Lansing. Michigan has five cities with transitional foster care programs: East Lansing, Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon and Paw Paw.
The programs can care for a total of 114 children, Mills said. They have about 80 now.
"These kids are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries," Mills said. "(This program) is good for the most vulnerable, the ones with medical needs or a higher level of trauma."
Having programs like this keeps children out of U.S. detention centers, where six have died after being detained by border agents.
Read more:
Why a mother of four walked 540 miles of Lansing's streets, dirt roads and sidewalks
‘One-pot’ meth labs are declining but Mexican cartels have made the drug cheaper and deadlier
Michigan bills add mandatory reporters after Nassar scandal
The sixth-largest city in India is running out of water as reservoirs run dry
Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.