Children who are applying for green cards as Special Immigrant Juveniles must have a Deprivation Order from the Juvenile Court in the County in which they live. The Deprivation Order must contain several findings of fact.
1. The child falls under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court- this occurs simply by virtue of the age of the child and his or her county of residence. Note that different states apply different age limits for the children who can be considered to fall under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
2. It is not in the best interests of the child to return to his or her home country.
3. The child is eligible for long term foster care. Does this mean that the child must go to foster care? No! It simply means that should the need ever arise, then the child would be eligible to receive foster care.
4. The child is a “deprived child” this basically means that the child’s situation warrants the involvement of the juvenile court.
If a child has become the subject of deprivation proceedings independently of the immigration process, he or she will not be barred from obtaining benefits from or for his or her biological parents.
However; once a child has gotten a green card as a special immigrant juvenile, he or she will not be able to apply for benefits on behalf of the biological parents.
