Champion for Change blog_0Yali Lincroft, a First Focus policy consultant, is being honored as a White House Champion of Change for her continued dedication to the well-being of immigrant children with incarcerated, deported, and detained parents. Lincroft has worked to ensure that these children are afforded equal opportunities, having begun in 2004 at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she published a report (Undercounted, Underserved: Immigrants and Refugees in the Child Welfare System) that examined the correlation between immigrant children in the child welfare system to those with incarcerated or detained parents. Yali currently serves as a Program Officer to the Walter S. Johnson Foundation.

Yali’s detailed blog post on helping immigration children with incarcerated, deported, and detained parents can be found on the White House website here. We highly recommend the read.

Throughout her career, Lincroft has published several extensive reports to aid child welfare advocacy agencies and social workers in working with children who have incarcerated parents. Her report, When a Parent Is Incarcerated: A Primer for Social Workers serves as a guide presented by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and is one of the few materials on the subject to appear on the federal website findyouthinfo.gov. To read her report published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation on safeguarding children in New York with incarcerated parents click here. Yali’s work for First Focus can be found below.

The Champions of Change Program honors ordinary people who are making extraordinary impact in their respective communities through their research, work, and action. Lincroft in among a class of 12 other honorees who are all being specially recognized for their dedication to the welfare of children with incarcerated parents. Through her work with First Focus, Lincroft has, in her own words, “been focused on addressing this awkward intersection of immigration, child welfare, and the criminal justice system through state and federal legislation.”

First Focus congratulates Yali, and salutes her for her continued support of our youth!

View Yali’s library of First Focus materials below:
Children in Harm’s Way: Criminal Justice, Immigration Enforcement, and Child Welfare
Uniting Our Voices for Immigrant Children of Incarcerated Parents
Children of Incarcerated Parents
Caught Between Systems: The Intersection of Immigration and Child Welfare Policies
Public Benefits and Child Welfare Financing
The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Child Welfare
Language, Culture, and Immigration Relief Options

Radiah Shabazz is an Intern Associate at First Focus