What Should Count as Best Practices of Forensic Medical and Psychological Evaluations for Children Seeking Asylum?

Abstract

The process of being granted asylum is complex, often taking months and years. Asylum seekers face high risk of being denied asylum in the United States. As medical and psychological evaluations assist in achieving successful asylum outcomes, human rights asylum clinics are being established throughout the country to facilitate these types of evaluations. The Midwest Human Rights Consortium, a multiinstitutional, interdisciplinary initiative, is working to streamline the referral process and increase the evaluator workforce through training and mentorship of practitioners. More work is needed to establish evidence-based, child-centered, and trauma-informed best practices in training evaluators and performing evaluations.The American Medical Association designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ available through the AMA Ed Hub TM . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

A Decade’s Experience Performing Forensic Medical and Psychologic Evaluations for Pediatric Asylum Seekers in the United States

“…Forensic medical and psychological evaluations by health professionals that corroborate claims of persecution increase an individual's likelihood of being granted asylum [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. During these evaluations, health professionals assess the individual's overall health and identify signs and symptoms of human rights abuse, and then summarize this evidence in an affidavit to be used in Most of these resources focus on adults but recent preliminary efforts have been made to develop specific guidance on conducting forensic evaluations for children [20,21]. However, there is a need for more involvement from the limited medical community involved in this work, as there is lack of consensus on issues such as the impact of trauma on pediatric development and best practices for minimizing re-traumatization of children during the evaluation process [22].…”

“…Most of these resources focus on adults but recent preliminary efforts have been made to develop specific guidance on conducting forensic evaluations for children [20, 21]. However, there is a need for more involvement from the limited medical community involved in this work, as there is lack of consensus on issues such as the impact of trauma on pediatric development and best practices for minimizing re-traumatization of children during the evaluation process [22].…”