Washington State is failing to fulfill its duty to provide critical support for immigrant youth in foster care.
On May 4, 2026, LCYC, with the help of Children’s Rights, McDermott Will & Schulte (MWS), and Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA), filed a Class Action Complaint against the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) on behalf of immigrant youth placed in DCYF care. LCYC is a named organizational plaintiff alongside immigrant youth placed in Washington’s foster system.
This lawsuit comes after many years of administrative advocacy with DCYF. For years, LCYC and partners like NWIRP and KIND advocated before DCYF, across multiple administrations, to ask them to identify immigrant youth in their care and refer them to immigration legal services. Yet DCYF continues to deny their responsibility to immigrant youth in their care. We have seen the consequences firsthand: missed opportunities to secure immigration relief, deportation orders without support, or the best case scenario – rushing to file relief in the last few days before the youth turns 21.
Nearly all immigrant children and youth without legal status in DCYF’s custody are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) classification. Congress created SIJ classification in 1990 to provide humanitarian protection for abused, neglected, or abandoned child immigrants, including those eligible for long-term foster care, and a pathway for them to obtain lawful permanent residence (“LPR”) status and United States citizenship.
Securing SIJ can be the difference between safety and stability in the U.S. and being deported to a place of danger or a country they have never known. The benefits outweigh almost every risk the department perceives they are placing the child in by identifying their presence in the system. At a time when immigrant communities are being attacked left and right, we need our state agencies to be proactive in ensuring their safety, health and permanency.
Filing a lawsuit is no small thing, and we recognize it will most likely impact our relationship with DCYF – it's why litigation is always the last resort in the systemic advocacy toolbelt. But it felt necessary for us to take this risk on behalf of immigrant youth in Washington considering the rapidly declining protections at the national level, which have already had devastating consequences within our state.
To read the latest updates on this lawsuit, click the button below.