Family & Court Support

Are you or someone you know in need of support? For emergency situations, call us at 585-420-6471.

About Family and Court Support

In combination with the emergency hotline, Rochester Rapid Response Network supports immigrant families depending on their needs. This includes court support and assistance in identifying resources to meet housing, health, food, and clothing needs.

Certain criteria has to be met to receive support and assistance depending on the needs of the family. Please read below about our protocols regarding emergency response, case selection, and case management assistance.

Emergency Response Protocol

RRRN activates an emergency response to immigration enforcement in the greater Rochester area. Family and court support are often needed in the aftermath of such an emergency. The initial contact with a directly affected individual or family will likely be with one of our Emergency Hotline operators or an activated RRRN member. As RRRN membership is activated, a temporary Emergency Response Team will form to coordinate appropriate care for the directly affected person and their family. This support is not ongoing but short-term. After the emergency has passed, it will be decided using predetermined criteria if RRRN will take on the case for a longer term with a selected liaison(s). Regardless, the Emergency Response Team should reflect and evaluate how the emergency response and coordination of care went. If the case is not selected, the Emergency Response Team should check-in with the directly affected person/family after a period of time to see how things are going.

Protocols for Giving Financial Support

RRRN has limited funds to use for family support in emergency response situations. Providing financial support is at the discretion of the Emergency Response Team and RRRN Steering Committee, as we need to be strategic in using our funds, as well as creating/promoting fundraisers through our social media platforms. We will not prioritize financial support for directly affected folks and their families who are already financially well-off (own their own home, etc.). Many of the predetermined criteria used in our case selection process should also be used to weigh in on the decision of whether to provide financial support.

Protocols for Sanctuary

Sanctuary is being defined here as physically sheltering a directly affected person/family in danger of immediate detention or deportation. RRRN will not provide physical sanctuary itself but can assess the logistics of assisting in locating sanctuary options if requested. RRRN will consider our predetermined criteria, as well as legal concerns, before assisting a directly affected person/family in seeking sanctuary.

Referral Protocol

If we cannot provide long-term support as a RRRN case, we will be explicit with the directly affected person/family and refer them to other organizations for support and services. This may lead to RRRN taking them on as a “solidarity case” (see below). If we do not have organizations or resources in mind, we will be explicit about that limitation.

Case Selection Protocol

A RRRN case is a directly affected person and/or family that we have committed to supporting long-term. Many folks could benefit from this kind of RRRN support but due to our mission and limited capacity, we will weigh the following criteria to select cases:

Will supporting / elevating this case contribute to systemic change?
Membership to immigrant-led organizing group
Directly affected person’s contributions to the community
Organizational capacity
Political climate / landscape
Criminal charges
Socioeconomic and financial status
Geographic isolation
Individual and/or family is part of a marginalized group (indigenous or ethnic minority, LGBTQ+, etc.)
Physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning
Psychosocial network and support system
Self-care ability

Protocol for Criminal Charges / Allegations

RRRN will not automatically dismiss a case due to criminal charges or allegations. Factors will be taken into consideration including the directly affected person’s moral character and extenuating circumstances. RRRN may check in with attorneys preemptively on cases to ascertain whether RRRN’s reputation will be negatively impacted by taking on a case. The decision to accept a case will ultimately be at the discretion of the RRRN Steering Committee.

Solidarity Cases

RRRN is committed to building relationships with regional immigration justice groups. Therefore, we may lend support to cases that are being primarily handled by other groups. These will be referred to as “solidarity cases,” so as not to confuse them with the cases RRRN has taken on to primarily support long-term.

Protocol for RRRN Case Management

RRRN should select a point person or point persons to serve as liaison(s) to the directly affected family, the lawyer, and allies – including community partners. If the liaison does not speak Spanish, they should ask a RRRN member of the Language Team to assist. The liaison will conduct regular check-ins with the directly affected person/family to identify needs and work with allies as necessary to fulfill them. Liaison(s) will provide updates to the Family & Court Support group. Leads of Family & Court Support will update RRRN Steering Committee.

Protocols for Giving Legal Support / Advice

Legal Support: It will be up to the discretion of the directly affected person and their legal team whether RRRN can provide legal support (through letters of support, court accompaniment, etc.) Liaison(s) will request permission from the directly affected person/family to speak to the lawyer to better coordinate legal support. This would ideally include obtaining the lawyer’s name, email, and phone number.
Legal Advice: RRRN cannot and will not give legal guidance for cases. However, it may be deemed necessary to advise against / be clear about the record of an attorney that a directly affected person is considering.

Protocols for Stopping / Rescinding Support

There are several scenarios where RRRN will rescind support for cases, which includes but is not limited to:

The criteria we used to make our decision has changed for the directly affected person/family and they are no longer an ideal candidate / eligible for long-term case management support
The safety and well-being of RRRN members has been violated or put into jeopardy by those involved in the case
The directly affected individual has violated our RRRN’s Code of Conduct
The directly affected individual has violated their collaborative Family & Court Support Working Agreements
RRRN no longer has the organizational capacity to support their case
It is deemed harmful to RRRN’s mission and/or reputation.
RRRN is no longer able to work with the attorney / legal team due to bad representation

Protocols for Deportation

RRRN will check in with the directly affected individual/family before and after post-resettlement about their needs. Similar to our Emergency Response Protocol, this support is not ongoing but short-term. Our goal is to assist the directly affected individual/family in making a difficult transition. This may include assisting the directly affected individual/family with referrals to organizations in other countries or cities along the Southern border. Liaisons should use the Accompaniment Directory in our Google Drive for assistance.

For less urgent matters please email us at rocrapidresponse@gmail.com. More information on how to reach us here: ¿Necesitas Ayuda?