This webinar will provide an introduction to seeking SIJS findings in child custody proceedings in family court, with a focus on California law. It will also cover frequently asked questions regarding jurisdiction, service abroad, and procedural issues.

Presenters:

• Rachel Prandini, ILRC Unaccompanied Minor Law Fellow
  Rachel joined the ILRC in 2014 to focus on the growing need for legal representation for the unaccompanied minor population. Prior to the ILRC, she represented detained and released unaccompanied minors in removal defense and led a project focusing on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project in Los Angeles. While at Esperanza, Rachel also performed "Know Your Rights" work in southern California immigration detention centers for minors. Prior to joining Esperanza, Rachel worked as an associate at Paul Hastings, LLP and volunteered as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied minors. Rachel is a graduate of UC Davis School of Law, where she was a member of the Immigration Law Clinic and was fortunate to work on complex deportation defense cases and detention issues. Rachel is conversant in Spanish.
• Jenny Horne, Staff Attorney - Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
  Jenny, a graduate of Stanford Law School, is a staff attorney at Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County where she founded the Teen Parents’ Project in 1994. As the Teen Parents’ Project attorney, she provides free legal advice and representation to low income San Mateo County teen-aged parents in domestic violence, family law, public benefits, education, guardianship, emancipation, and immigration.  Over the past ten years, she has spent an increasing amount of time providing immigration assistance including help with U VISAs, SIJS, VAWA, and DACA to teen parents, their families, and other youth who cannot live with one or both of their parents due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Jenny was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame; received the Silver Award from the Peninsula Partnership Council’s first biannual Children’s Report Initiative in 2002; and in 1999, received a Commendation from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the San Mateo County Perinatal Council for services provided to San Mateo County school-age parents.
• Lindsay Toczylowski, Executive Director - Immigrant Defenders Law Center
  Lindsay is the Executive Director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to advancing justice for Southern California's most marginalized immigrant communities.  She was previously the Directing Attorney for Representation Programs at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, where she built a program that specialized in providing legal representation and community education to the most vulnerable immigrants in Southern California.  Ms. Toczylowski was the principal supervisor for the provision of legal representation to detained and released unaccompanied minors and mentally incompetent immigrant detainees.  Esperanza’s direct representation program for unaccompanied minors provided immigration removal defense to hundreds of refugee children yearly, and grew to be the largest program of its kind in the United States under her leadership.  Ms. Toczylowski was formerly a Staff Attorney at both Esperanza and Kids in Need of Defense, where she represented immigrant children in removal proceedings, mainly pursuing asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Visas for them.  Prior to Esperanza, she fought for the legal rights of abused and neglected foster children in the Dependency Court system as an attorney with the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles.  Ms. Toczylowski was also the Overseas Operations Director at Asylum Access, an international nonprofit that makes refugee rights a reality in the global south. As the 2008 University of Southern California Irmas Fellow, she provided direct legal services and engaged in policy advocacy in Asylum Access's Ecuador office. Ms. Toczylowski is a frequent speaker at conferences and trainings on UAC legal issues.  She is an active University of Southern California Law alumnus who serves on the USC Public Interest Law Foundation Advisory Board. Ms. Toczylowski is a graduate of the USC Gould School of Law and a magna cum laude graduate of San Diego State University.

Registration:
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