Update November 8, 2024: As history repeats itself with the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, the threat of mass deportations is all too real. This website has information about emergency planning for parents who fear deportation. It also includes links to guided interviews in English and Spanish that will provide advocates and families with instructions on how to create emergency planning documents. (This project and website were created in 2017 by CUNY Law School alums, professors, students, and other advocates and activists in response to the threat of detention and deportation of people who were undocumented.)

If you are a family member, immigration advocate, or a parent of minor children who fears the possibility of deportation, click on one of the links below, it will take you to a “guided interview” where you can learn more about New York advance planning documents, start the emergency planning process, and if you choose, create advance planning documents.

• Guided interview in English
• Guided interview in Spanish

What is emergency planning and why is it important?

• When a parent is detained or deported, emergency planning can avoid the possibility that their children are placed with the state.
• Emergency planning empowers families to choose who will care for their children and who will be able to make important decisions over their children’s care in their absence.
• Some key information about emergency planning:
  • Emergency planning is done in advance.
  • Documents created for the purposes of emergency planning can be created without having to go to court.
  • Parents can always change or revoke (cancel) the document.
  • The documents we will discuss do not change a parent’s legal rights to their children or people under their care.
  • The person chosen as the caretaker, guardian, or agent for the parent’s children will not act unless the parent has been detained or deported.

• For example: in the case of a parent’s detention or deportation, their minor children may need protection with the following documents, which can be created using the guided interview:
  • Temporary Care & Custody: Someone to make temporary decisions over the children’s daily routines, school related decisions, and routine medical decisions.
  • Standby Guardian: Someone to care of children long-term.
  • Power of Attorney: Someone to make financial decisions only for their children and/or for other family members, for example paying bills, signing leases, and using bank accounts.

Special thanks to all the CUNY Law students, alums, and other advocates, and our developer partners at Afterpattern.

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