ABSTRACT
Central American immigrant children require specific considerations regarding their mental health needs in the legal system. Familiarity with the specific mental health outcomes that result from family separations and exposure to other pre-, peri-, and post-migration stressors in either the children or their parents is essential when providing services. Culture and immigration are key to a child's psychosocial development, including their identity, role in the family and adjustment to their environment. For some, social exclusion and discrimination produce poorer mental health outcomes. Resilience factors are different in children from diverse cultures, including a sense of personal agency and self-worth, coping strategies including attitudes and beliefs that help them make meaning out of adversity, trust their mental strength and ability to overcome challenges, and educational and professional values. Coming into contact with the legal system at a time when a child is growing psychologically and intellectually, have a different meaning for children with diverse values and standards, particularly when they have different notions of justice and social order. Mental health practitioners working with Central American immigrant children who come in contact with the legal system need to have this information to provide the tailored care that these children need.
