Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) is an immigration classification available to certain undocumented immigrants under the age of 21 in a state juvenile court proceeding who cannot reunite with their parents due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect to apply and obtain lawful permanent residence in the United States. Once granted, SIJ classification provides a pathway to seek legal permanent residency (a green card) and U.S. citizenship. Obtaining a state predicate order—Vulnerable Youth Guardianship (VYG) is the first step in the process.

The LCYC SIJ-VYG Pro Bono Project uses a one-of-a-kind approach that pairs two attorneys and one foreign language interpreter to form a “cluster” unit to work on VYG petitions, exclusively. Each “cluster” works in unison to serve one SIJ-VYG youth. Volunteers are expected to draft all pleadings relevant to the VYG petition. Volunteers are not attorneys of record, and will not represent clients in any court appearances.

Become a trainer for the Immigrant Safety Plan and support our community in understanding and filling out the plan. You do not need to be an attorney.

Volunteers who are experts in specific subject matter areas of the law are encouraged to provide direct representation for LCYC clients. This involves direct legal representation in a court proceeding to help identify legal issues and possible legal remedies.

Volunteers are expected to draft and file all relevant pleadings directly with the appropriate venue and represent clients directly.

Volunteers who are experts in specific subject matter areas of the law are encouraged to provide their expertise to support LCYC attorneys who need technical support in a nascent area of the law.

Volunteers are paired with an LCYC attorney lead and are expected to provide legal advice to help identify legal issues and possible solutions. Volunteers will not be expected to represent clients in any court proceedings.

Volunteers who have robust legal research and writing skills are encouraged to participate in our legal research project. The aim is to allow volunteers to assist LCYC attorneys to identify and find the laws—including statutes, regulations, and court opinions—that apply to a specific fact pattern or topic. In most instances, the purpose of legal research is to find support for a particular legal issue or decision.

Volunteers are paired with an LCYC attorney lead, and are expected to conduct legal research and writing on a specific topic and/or fact pattern. The most common deliverable in this project is a short memo.

Volunteers who have a foreign language proficiency are encouraged to participate in our language interpretation/translation project.

Volunteers who can speak languages other than English may be tasked to translate legal literacy video transcripts, legal petitions back to English, or draft legal pleadings in a foreign language for an LCYC client. Volunteers may be asked to participate in the SIJS-VYG program for additional support.

Creating legal literacy resources is a great way to help the public understand their legal rights and responsibilities. Customized legal literacy resources facilitate access to justice for communities that have historically been excluded from the justice system.

Some examples of projects for volunteers include simplifying complex legal concepts by changing legal jargon to plain language and organizing legal information into an easy-to-follow format such as a checklist, infographic, table, graph, or flowchart.