Standing With Children Who Stand Alone

Every year in Bexar County, children arrive in the United States alone. Some are as young as five or six. Many have fled violence, abuse, or exploitation. All of them are placed into a legal system they do not understand and are ordered to appear in immigration court.

There is no public defender in immigration court.

There is no automatic lawyer for a child.

Without help, these children must face a judge, a government prosecutor, and a complex legal process entirely on their own.

Advokato exists so that no child has to do that alone.

Know Your Rights: The First Line of Protection

Imagine being a child, newly arrived in a strange country, sitting in a shelter or foster placement, knowing you are expected to go to court but having no idea what that means.

For many children, our Know Your Rights presentations are the first moment when fear gives way to understanding.

Advokato attorneys go directly into ORR shelters and foster care programs across Bexar County to explain, in clear and age-appropriate terms:

• Why the child is in immigration proceedings
• What will happen in immigration court
• What rights they have
• That they are allowed to ask for a lawyer
• That they are not alone

These presentations do not just provide information. They provide reassurance, dignity, and a sense of agency in a system that often strips children of all three.

Why donor support matters:
Without donor funding, these presentations simply do not happen. Every session requires trained attorneys, interpreters, and on-site access. Your support ensures that children receive knowledge instead of silence, and clarity instead of fear.

Pro Bono Coordination: Turning Willing Hands Into Real Help

There are many attorneys who want to help unaccompanied children. But without training, coordination, and support, good intentions are not enough.

Advokato builds the bridge.

We recruit and train pro bono attorneys, match them with children who need representation, and walk alongside them throughout the case. We provide mentorship, legal guidance, sample filings, and ongoing support so that children receive competent, committed advocacy.

Through this work, one attorney’s willingness becomes one child’s chance at safety.

Why donor support matters:
Pro bono representation depends on infrastructure. Training, supervision, interpretation, filing costs, and case coordination all require funding. Your donation multiplies impact by making it possible for many attorneys to stand up for many children.

Direct Legal Representation: When No One Else Can

Some children cannot wait. Some cases are too complex. Some children have no available pro bono attorney. In those moments, Advokato steps in directly.

Our attorneys represent children from the first hearing through the final outcome. We stand beside them in court. We prepare their applications. We gather evidence. We fight deadlines. We advocate for their safety with every tool the law allows.

When a child looks up from the respondent’s table and sees their lawyer beside them, the power imbalance shifts. The system no longer speaks over them. Someone is finally speaking for them.

Why donor support matters:
Direct representation is intensive and life-altering. It takes time, expertise, and sustained advocacy. Donor support ensures that children with the greatest need are not left to face the system alone simply because their case is hard.

Paths to Safety and Stability

Many unaccompanied children qualify for protection under U.S. law. But these protections only exist on paper unless someone knows how to claim them.

Advokato helps children pursue relief such as:

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)

For children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected, SIJS offers a path to lawful permanent residence and a stable future.

Asylum

For children fleeing persecution, asylum can mean safety, education, and the chance to grow up without fear.

Protection Under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and Withholding of Removal

For children who face severe harm if returned, these protections can be the difference between life and death.

Visas for Survivors of Crime and Trafficking

For children who have already endured exploitation, these visas provide protection and a chance to heal.

None of these forms of relief are automatic.
They require legal knowledge, evidence, and advocacy.

Children cannot do this alone.

Why Your Support Is Essential

Unaccompanied children do not have money for lawyers. They do not control the system deciding their fate. And they did not choose to arrive alone.

Your support makes it possible for Advokato to:

• Show children their rights
• Match them with trained advocates
• Stand beside them in court
• Fight for outcomes that keep them safe

This is not abstract policy work.
This is one child, one case, one future at a time.

A donation to Advokato is a statement:
No child should face immigration court alone.