Services
The program places minors in foster care with specially trained local families and provides culturally and linguistically appropriate social services including:
- Assisting the minors to access services for education, health and well-being.
- Facilitating adjustment to life in the United States as well as cultural preservation.
- Preparing youth to live independently as adults.
DSHS provides unaccompanied refugee minors with the same range of child welfare benefits and services available to other children in Washington, including:
- Foster care maintenance payments (room, board and clothing)
- Medical assistance
- Extended Foster Care
- Educational Training Vouchers
Eligibility
People may be eligible for the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program if they are:
- Unaccompanied children and youth under age 18
- Eligible for child welfare services (referred by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement)
- Without a close adult relative willing and able to care for them, or an adult with a clear and court-verifiable claim to custody
- Without parent(s) in the United States
- Having an immigration status that makes them eligible for federally funded refugee services from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. For more information about ORR eligibility, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Service Providers
View a list of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program service providers on our interactive resource tool.