Most noncitizen children in foster care have viable claims for immigration relief that will place them on a path toward lawful permanent resident status and U.S. Citizenship. However, without help from an attorney knowledgeable in immigration law, time will cause many of their claims to expire. The foundational principles of the child welfare system are to provide safety, achieve permanency, and ensure a child’s wellbeing. Yet, to date, many child welfare agencies have not connected these core tenets with the need to assist noncitizen foster children in stabilizing their immigration status. How can a noncitizen foster child achieve a sense of security and belonging without protection from deportation and the ability to work legally, access medical care, and obtain financial aid to pursue an education that comes from long-term lawful immigration status? This is a particularly urgent topic because children in foster care, and especially those who may age out of foster care without legal status, are at heightened risk of deportation under the Trump administration and there is no right to free counsel in deportation proceedings.

This Article is the first to consider the obligations of child welfare agencies to provide immigration legal representation to noncitizen children in their care. After providing some background and context, the authors review the approaches already taken in some jurisdictions to meet this obligation and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. This Article then examines those federal and state laws that support the provision of immigration counsel, before concluding with a set of recommendations in the areas of policy, legislation, and litigation. In short, this Article asserts that immigration stabilization is an inextricable part of what it means to provide “safety, permanency, and well-being” and that child welfare agencies must appoint immigration lawyers for children in their custody.