03/27/2025
This is what children should be doing — exploring the world and playing without worries.
But imagine an alternative reality.
You are a child who has lived in the same home
in the same small town all your life. Your home has become unsafe.
You have to flee.
You leave with your mom, but she is kidnapped on the journey, and you end up alone. Alone in a new country where you don’t speak the language.
Or maybe you left with your aunt or uncle or grandparent or neighbor. They were supposed to keep you safe. You were supposed to stay together, but when you arrived in the United States, the government separated you.
Now, you have to go to court. You’ve never been to court before. It is a strange room with people sitting far apart, police officers and an important person — a judge — who sits up higher than everyone else and wears a black robe.
You have to explain to this judge why you are here, why you want to stay, and why they should allow you to stay. Because you are just learning English, you are given big earphones and told to speak into a big microphone so an interpreter sitting next to the judge can help you explain this to the judge.
Can you imagine doing that alone?
In a foreign land?
As a child?
Of course not.
These are the children LSN Legal represents. Until Friday, March 21st, our firm was contracted by the federal government to represent approximately 90 children throughout the State of Ohio. Our contract included all court appearances, preparations, filings, and trauma-informed legal services. We offered these services at no cost to the children or their caretakers because, in the past, our national government agreed that they have already been through enough.
But on March 21st, the federal government abruptly ended this long-standing program that ensured unaccompanied children throughout our country would not appear in court without legal representation.
At LSN Legal, our values are resolute. We will not abandon the 90+ children we serve. We believe children should not have to appear in court and negotiate their status without adult support.
We invite you to join us in this effort. We need your help to continue and sustain our work. We do not want to abandon these children.
The bottom line: It costs our firm about $3,560 annually to represent each of the kids we help. At our current caseload, that comes out to about $320,000/year.
Can you contribute to the entire or partial representation of one of these children? A link has been posted below where you can donate to our firm, and these funds will be earmarked to serve these children. Alternatively, please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected] for more information about how to make an earmarked direct deposit to our firm.
https://donate.stripe.com/aEUaHEeWT3T56S4aEE
