In 2017 five-year-old Julia traveled with her mother, Guadalupe, from Honduras to the United States. Her harrowing journey took her through Mexico in the cargo section of a tractor trailer. Then she was separated from her mother, who was held hostage by smugglers who exploited her physically and financially. At the United States border, Julia came through the processing center as an unaccompanied minor after being separated from her stepdad who was deported.
Gena Thomas tells the story of how Julia came to the United States, what she experienced in the system, and what it took to reunite her with her family. A Spanish-speaking former missionary, Gena became Julia's foster mother and witnessed firsthand the ways migrant children experience trauma. Weaving together the stories of birth mother and foster mother, this book shows the human face of the immigrant and refugee, the challenges of the immigration and foster care systems, and the tenacious power of motherly love.
Table of Content
Foreword by Michelle Ferrigno Warren
Introduction: Julia
Part I: Honduras
1. Emigración
2. Expatriation
Part II: Mexico
3. Río Bravo
4. Rio Grande
Part III: United States
5. Unaccompanied Minor
6. Dependent Children
7. Foster Daughter
8. ‘Quién Es Usted a Mi?’ (‘Who Are You to Me?’)
Part IV: Honduras
9. Reunification/Reunificación
10. Reflections
Epilogue: Dear Julia
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: A Note to Other Foster Parents
Appendix B: An Interview with Elí Romero
Appendix C: Small-Group Discussion Questions
Notes
Glossary
Recommended Reading
About the author
Michelle Ferrigno Warren is the president and CEO of Virago Strategies, a consulting group that provides strategic direction and project management for civic engagement campaigns alongside communities impacted by racial and economic injustice. She helped found Open Door Ministries, a community development 501(c)(3) corporation in downtown Denver, to address poverty, addiction, and homelessness through social programs. With policy expertise in economic justice and human service issues, she has served as advocacy and strategic engagement director for the Christian Community Development Association and done coalition work with the National Immigration Forum. Warren is a senior fellow with the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute and adjunct faculty at Denver Seminary. She and her husband live in Denver's Westside neighborhood and have three adult children. She is the author of The Power of Proximity.
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