Health Risks of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in Federal Custody and in US Communities.

Unaccompanied immigrant children continue to arrive at the US-Mexico border and are at high risk for ongoing abuse, neglect, and poor mental and physical health. We are medical and legal experts in the fields of immigrant and refugee health, child abuse, and the legal rights of international refugee and migrant children. We provide an overview of US federal agencies with custody of unaccompanied immigrant children, a summary of medical care provided while in custody, and recent findings from the independent Juvenile Care Monitor Report mandating new custodial conditions for immigrant children while in federal custody. We provide recommendations to improve the health and well-being of unaccompanied immigrant children while in custody and once released to US sponsors. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(3):340-346. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307570).

Supporting health professionals who serve gender-diverse youth.

Health care providers have recently experienced a significant increase in gender-diverse youth seeking gender-affirming care. Politicians have responded by introducing legislation in dozens of states banning or limiting access to gender-affirming care, especially for youth. This coordinated legislative campaign has been accompanied by a multitude of threats against both hospitals and health care providers who offer gender-affirming care to youth. This commentary provides an overview of these recent developments, highlighting the role that affirmation of gender identity plays in reducing suicide risk among trans youth. The commentary recommends five concrete steps that health care providers and systems can take to support their colleagues who provide gender-affirming care and their patients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Experiences of Canadian mental health providers in identifying and responding to online and in-person sexual abuse and exploitation of their child and adolescent clients.

BACKGROUND: Sex offenders often use the internet to communicate with children to facilitate in-person sexual abuse or to create and distribute sexual images of children. Mental healthcare providers are a major source of referrals to child welfare authorities and are well-positioned to identify sexual exploitation. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the perceived ability of mental healthcare workers to recognize and respond to concerns about online and in-person sexual exploitation of their pediatric clients. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The authors administered a cross-sectional survey to 209 mental healthcare providers within the public health system of Alberta, Canada. METHODS: The survey contained four sections related to sexual exploitation: two of which can take place online or in-person (grooming and sexual abuse) and two of which require the internet or a digital device (luring and sexual image distribution). Each section asked whether the mental healthcare provider had experience working with clients affected by these concerns, what barriers they encounter, how confident they are in their abilities and whether they have formal training in a topic. RESULTS: The vast majority of participants (83%) worked with a client impacted by grooming, luring, sexual abuse or sexual image distribution in the last year. Participants reported more training, more confidence and fewer barriers when identifying and responding to sexual abuse as compared to grooming, luring or sexual image distribution. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to improve mental health providers understanding of how technology is being utilized to exploit children, so that they can respond effectively to protect their clients.