The Spectator reported that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will send 500 volunteers to the border to help overwhelmed officials process the surge of unaccompanied children:
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offered employees an ‘informational unaccompanied minors’ session last week ‘to learn more about volunteer detail opportunities for employees’, according to an email obtained by The Spectator. Volunteers would be responsible for working directly with migrant children to interview them for their legal cases and help connect them with adult sponsors residing in the United States.‘These are children in need and government employees now have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these children, families and communities impacted by this migration,’ Terry Cosby, acting chief of the NRCS, wrote in the email, dated April 22. ‘I urge you to seriously consider answering this call to service to make a difference.’
President Joe Biden’s administration says over and over that we do not have a border crisis. Biden admitted we have a crisis, but his people quickly “clarified” his comment.
If we have no crisis then why ask people in the USDA to volunteer their time to spend 12-hours a day performing a job with no previous training? It looks like the government will literally throw the employees into the unknown:
Volunteers will be expected to work 12-hour shifts daily, including weekends, for a period of several weeks to as long as three months. According to a FAQ sheet from the Office of Refugee Resettlement obtained by The Spectator, volunteers should not expect formal training before conducting interviews with unaccompanied migrant children, many of whom are the victims of severe trauma.‘Support personnel should not expect formal, classroom-based training classes up front as the need for help is immediate,’ the document explains. ‘Rather, support personnel can expect a three-step training process: 1) Badging. 2) Orientation and 3) Shift Scheduling.’These relatively untrained employees will be responsible for conducting eight to 12 interviews daily with children who ‘have experienced very difficult, sad, or scary things while they were in their home country or on the journey to the United States,’ the ORR says. ‘Common traumatic experiences that unaccompanied children report include gang violence, sexual abuse, domestic violence, physical abuse, being separated for a long time from parents, and witnessing the death or suffering of people they love.’
Could you imagine having to counsel and interview children who experienced horrendous childhoods and trek over the border without any therapy or childcare training?
The USDA confirmed that 500 employees will go to the border. They are participating in a volunteer program “conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).”
The department assured The Spectator that the loss of employees will not hamper the USDA’s ability to perform its duties.
I’m more concerned with the lack of professionalism coming from the administration. The border crisis needs people with training centered around helping children, especially children who have experienced trauma.
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