Blog - Nebraska Appleseed

Report Documents Immigration Enforcement’s Harmful Effects on Children

Child Welfare, Immigrants & Communities / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 02/13/2010

While our country is engaged in an intense debate about immigration policy, largely absent from the discussion is the impact of our nationâ€™s policies on the children of immigrants. Today, there are an estimated 5.5 million children with unauthorized immigrant parents, about three-quarters of whom are U.S.-born citizens. Last week, the Urban Institute released a […]

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Kitchen Tables

Child Welfare, Economic Justice, Health Care, Immigrants & Communities, Legal Assistance, Voting & Elections / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 11/24/2009

I love Thanksgiving.Â My Dad (my favorite farmer) cooks for us, and this year, I have not one but two beautiful nieces to giggle with at the table. Â This is what valuing family means to me.Â I am grateful for a good meal, for family, and even for the baby drool and stuffing that will

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Safe Haven Revisited

Child Welfare / By admin / 09/30/2009

It has been about a year since Nebraskaâ€™s original safe haven law went into effect and 36 children, most of them teenagers, were dropped off at local hospitals before the Legislature went into special session to restrict the law to infants up to 30 days old. This spring, lawmakers took a first step in addressing

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The Love of a Mother Transcends Language

Child Welfare, Immigrants & Communities / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 09/17/2009

What makes a good mother? Is it her ability to love and nurture her children? Is it her ability to provide them with the emotional, physical and spiritual support they need? Or is it her ability to speak English? Most people would choose love, nurture and support. But in courtrooms across the country, this seemingly

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More than Numbers

Economic Justice / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 09/14/2009

One in ten Nebraskans currently lives in poverty according to new Census data released last week. One in tenâ€¦One in ten folks driving down I-80 on your commute to work this morningâ€¦One in ten parents at your PTA meetingâ€¦One in ten people attending your church service on Sundayâ€¦ The truth is that the recession is

A Tall Order for Foster Care Reform

Child Welfare / By admin / 08/26/2009

One of my first blog posts this summer focused on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesâ€™ release of its most recent federal review of Nebraskaâ€™s foster care system.Â As a result of the stateâ€™s failure to pass the federal review, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) is required to develop

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Special Visas Available to Abused and Neglected Foreign-Born Children

Child Welfare, Immigrants & Communities / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 08/20/2009

An increasing number of children and families find themselves caught in the intersection of our country’s complex – and broken – immigration and child welfare systems. The first goal in these cases should be for the state to provide culturally appropriate services to reunify the family when that is appropriate and can be done safely.

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Fostering Connections for Nebraska’s Children

Child Welfare / By admin / 08/05/2009

In June, I blogged about the long-term outcomes for children who “age out” of foster care and the opportunity presented by the new federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act to extend foster care to children up to age 21. While a number of important provisions in the Act focus on improving outcomes

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Nebraska Immigrant Family Bonds Protected by State Supreme Court

Child Welfare, Immigrants & Communities / By Sierra Salgado Pirigyi / 07/22/2009

Since the formation of the our Child Welfare System Accountability Program in 2003, Nebraska Appleseed has been dedicated to enforce constitutional, federal, and state statutory requirements for providing adequate child welfare services in the State of Nebraska, and using legal advocacy to support needed policy reform initiatives. In particular, we are committed to working on

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The Enforcement of the Indian Child Welfare Act in Nebraska

Child Welfare / By admin / 07/15/2009

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal and state law enacted in 1978 to curb the practice of state child welfare agencies removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes. This practice had become so widespread that, at the time of ICWA’s enactment, 25 to

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