UC San Diego

The forensic medical evaluation of pediatric asylum seekers requires special consideration of types of injuries, abuse, and neglect that may be specific to children; an understanding of child behavior and development and varying responses to acute and chronic trauma; and a knowledge of country conditions, cultural sensitivity, and a trauma-informed approach to care. Historically, most forensic medical evaluation training for asylum seekers has focused on the adult population and nationally, there are few pediatricians, family medicine providers, child mental health clinicians, and child abuse pediatricians trained in this work. Since 2014, there has been a surge of immigrant arrivals who are unaccompanied children or in family units; there is a growing need to build a large cadre of pediatric trained medical and mental health providers to play an essential role in performing medical forensic evaluations.