Category: Immigrants / Immigration, Children and Families, Juvenile Justice ... (show more) Category: Immigrants / Immigration, Children and Families, Juvenile Justice, Trauma (show less) Other: Missouri, Wisconsin Other: Missouri, Wisconsin (show less)

This workshop explores the profound and often overlooked traumatic stress experienced by children growing up in undocumented and mixed-status families in the era of mass deportation, surveillance, and heightened immigration enforcement. Drawing from trauma-informed and family systems perspectives, participants will examine how chronic fear, separation threats, and systemic discrimination shape attachment, development, and identity among these children. Through case examples, current research, and reflection, we will consider the emotional, relational, and educational toll of living in constant uncertainty while identifying practical, culturally responsive strategies for promoting safety, connection, and healing in clinical, school, and community settings.
Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how chronic immigration enforcement stress and family insecurity shape developmental trauma, attachment patterns, and early narrative formation in migrant children and children of undocumented parents.
2. Identify trauma adaptations and triggers commonly seen in this population and distinguish between behaviors rooted in survival responses versus pathology.
3. Apply trauma-informed, connection-based strategies that promote co-regulation, safety, and relational healing in everyday social work interactions with migrant children and their families.