The Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program is managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families, an operational division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
UC are defined as a child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States; has not attained 18 years of age; and, with respect to whom, there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.
UC are referred to ORR by another federal agency, usually the Department of Homeland Security. Most children are placed into ORR care because they were apprehended by immigration authorities while trying to cross the border; others are referred after coming to the attention of immigration authorities at some point after crossing the border. HHS plays no role in the apprehension or initial detention of UC prior to their referral to HHS custody and HHS is not a party to the child’s immigration proceedings.
Since 2003, ORR has provided care for and found suitable sponsors for over 340,000 UC. For its first nine years at ORR, fewer than 8000 children were served annually in this program. Since Fiscal Year 2012 (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2012), this number has jumped dramatically, with a total of 13,625 children referred to ORR by the end of FY 2012. The program received 24,668 UC referrals from DHS in FY 2013, 57,496 referrals in FY 2014, 33,726 referrals in FY 2015, 59,170 in FY 2016, and 40,810 in FY 2017. In FY 2018 49,100 UC were referred.
The latest data available on UC demographics and program operations for fiscal year 2019 is provided on this page.
Overall Data | Gender | Age | Tender Age (0-12) UC By Shelter Type | Total Monthly Discharges to Individual Sponsors Only (By Category)
Overall Data
| In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month | 10/31/2018 | 11/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 1/31/2019 | 2/28/2019 | 3/31/2019 | 4/30/2019 | 5/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 7/31/2019 | 8/31/2019 | 9/30/2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Number of Children in Care: | 13,286 | 13,936 | 14,226 | 11,151 | 11,473 | 11,851 | 12,587 | 13,123 | 13,432 | 11,049 | 7,751 | 5,775 |
| Maximum Number of Operations Beds*: | 15,684 | 15,846 | 16,051 | 15,424 | 13,435 | 14,048 | 14,363 | 14,375 | 15,097 | 15,897 | 16,159 | 13,432 |
| Average Occupancy Rate: | 87% | 90% | 89% | 82% | 86% | 87% | 88% | 92% | 92% | 70% | 53% | 43% |
| Average Length of Care (for those discharged)**: | 91 | 93 | 89 | 77 | 72 | 58 | 47 | 45 | 45 | 47 | 54 | 63 |
| Average Length of Care (for those in care)***: | 82 | 82 | 81 | 81 | 73 | 64 | 61 | 60 | 61 | 79 | 102 | 116 |
| 30-Day Average Number of UC Referrals: | 140 | 151 | 164 | 145 | 210 | 256 | 286 | 293 | 294 | 167 | 100 | 82 |
| 30-Day Average UC Discharge Rate: | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.2 |
*includes Influx shelters
**includes all discharge types & all program types
***Length of Care calculated as of the last day of the corresponding month showing above
Gender
| In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month | 10/31/2018 | 11/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 1/31/2019 | 2/28/2019 | 3/31/2019 | 4/30/2019 | 5/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 7/31/2019 | 8/31/2019 | 9/30/2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 9,598 | 9,801 | 8,971 | 7,842 | 8,016 | 8,449 | 8,766 | 9,229 | 8,650 | 6,177 | 4,284 | 3,402 |
| Female | 3,970 | 4,369 | 3,878 | 3,499 | 3,571 | 3,822 | 4,014 | 4,101 | 4,377 | 3,161 | 2,168 | 1,676 |
Age
| In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month | 10/31/2018 | 11/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 1/31/2019 | 2/28/2019 | 3/31/2019 | 4/30/2019 | 5/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 7/31/2019 | 8/31/2019 | 9/30/2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-5 | 322 | 344 | 354 | 311 | 280 | 333 | 380 | 432 | 491 | 450 | 341 | 280 |
| 6-12 | 1,367 | 1,489 | 1,165 | 1,074 | 1,093 | 1,211 | 1,379 | 1,417 | 1,517 | 1,198 | 815 | 653 |
| 13-14 | 1,482 | 1,557 | 1,315 | 1,155 | 1,195 | 1,265 | 1,331 | 1,345 | 1,382 | 940 | 640 | 505 |
| 15-16 | 5,002 | 5,328 | 4,933 | 4,286 | 4,454 | 4,620 | 4,812 | 5,069 | 4,752 | 3,243 | 2,221 | 1,708 |
| 17 | 5,395 | 5,452 | 5,082 | 4,515 | 4,565 | 4,842 | 4,878 | 5,067 | 4,885 | 3,507 | 2,435 | 1,932 |
Tender Age (0-12) UC By Shelter Type
| In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month | 10/31/2018 | 11/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 1/31/2019 | 2/28/2019 | 3/31/2019 | 4/30/2019 | 5/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 7/31/2019 | 8/31/2019 | 9/30/2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Shelter | 795 | 901 | 719 | 549 | 456 | 528 | 633 | 667 | 782 | 636 | 478 | 351 |
| Transitional Foster Care | 858 | 898 | 764 | 799 | 882 | 981 | 1,090 | 1,145 | 1,187 | 976 | 642 | 545 |
| Residential Treatment | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Staff Secure | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Secure | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Therapeutic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Long Term Foster Care | 30 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 29 | 32 | 35 |
Total Monthly Discharges to Individual Sponsors Only (By Category)
| In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month | 10/31/2018 | 11/30/2018 | 12/31/2018 | 1/31/2019 | 2/28/2019 | 3/31/2019 | 4/30/2019 | 5/31/2019 | 6/30/2019 | 7/31/2019 | 8/31/2019 | 9/30/2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1 | 1,471 | 1,544 | 2,934 | 2,246 | 2,258 | 3,130 | 3,766 | 3,803 | 3,758 | 3,496 | 2,301 | 1,385 |
| Category 2 | 1,700 | 1,560 | 2,563 | 2,883 | 2,530 | 3,186 | 3,443 | 3,753 | 4,273 | 4,144 | 2,547 | 1,555 |
| Category 3 | 291 | 295 | 521 | 452 | 490 | 580 | 528 | 545 | 692 | 823 | 799 | 591 |
| Total | 3,462 | 3,399 | 6,018 | 5,581 | 5,278 | 6,896 | 7,737 | 8,101 | 8,723 | 8,463 | 5,647 | 3,531 |
*** PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL FY19 UC DATA REPRESENTED HERE IS UNRECONCILED AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
