Morrison Child and Family Services, a facility based in Portland in Oregon, has been given almost $3.7m in federal funding to provide unaccompanied immigrant minors with care and housing.
Morrison, a non-profit organization that offers support to people who have suffered traumatic events, has been given this funding in stages across the fiscal year of 2014. The most recent payout, which totaled $923,681, was made on July 11th, and Morrison will receive a total of $3,694,729 to help unaccompanied immigrants this year. Although the funding is significant, it is just the latest in a series of such grants to be given by the federal government to Morrison in the last few years. The family services center has been given almost $16.5m since 2009 to care for and house unaccompanied immigrant minors.
The funding, which was recently revealed via records taken from an online government database, has resulted in questions from a number of people outside Portland about the official stance of the federal government regarding the relocation of these immigrant minors. Morrison has declined to comment, but the department of health and human services says that the housing will not put any strain on the community.
“The impact of these shelters on the local community is minimal,” says department spokesman Kenneth Wolfe. “HHS pays for and provides all services for the children through its network of grantees. This includes providing food, clothing, education and medical screening to the children. Children spend less than 30 days on average at the shelter and do not integrate into the local community.”