Video: The Office of Missing Children

More than 2,600 kids were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy. What happened to those children? Reveal’s investigative reporting team looked at facilities across the country to answer that question. 

After being separated from their parents at the border, some of the children were held in office buildings operated by a company without a child care license. The Office of Missing Children tells the story of a child who stayed in those offices — one of many stories of migrant children who have spent time in federal custody without a parent. Nearly 15,000 unaccompanied minors currently are detained in the U.S.; they’re held in places ranging from tent cities to trailers and shelters, some of which have a history of mistreatment, including forced drugging, sexual assault and physical abuse.

Seventy-one companies receive funds from the federal government to house and supervise unaccompanied minors. Nearly half of the $3.4 billion paid to the companies in the last four years went to places with serious allegations of mistreating children.

Video running time: 7 minutes

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This post originally appeared in Reveal, a publication of The Center for Investigative Reporting. Included in Vox Populi for educational non-commercial purposes only.