Inside ICAP
Executive Director
Maria Woltjen is an attorney whose career has centered on children’s rights. From 1991 to 1996, Ms. Woltjen directed the Children’s Advocacy Project of the Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, focusing on delinquency, health and disabilities. From 2001 to 2004, Ms. Woltjen was adjunct faculty at the ChildLaw Center of Loyola Law School, working on environmental hazards affecting children. Ms. Woltjen lives outside Chicago with her husband and two children.
Senior Advocates
Mary Bird is an attorney who has devoted her career to child welfare. Ms. Bird worked for five years as Senior Attorney with the Children’s Rights Project of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. She subsequently worked for the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian and the Inspector General for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Ms. Bird is adjunct faculty at Loyola University School of Law where she teaches Street Law. Ms. Bird lives outside Chicago with her husband and two children.
Fanny Clonch is a high school teacher who grew up in Morocco and France. Ms. Clonch, who speaks Arabic, French and Spanish, has served as Child Advocate for children from all over the world – Yemen, Morocco, Haiti and Gambia. Ms. Clonch lives with her husband and two children in Chicago.
Mo Yan Leung is a social worker who has worked for more than ten years with unaccompanied immigrant children. Before serving as Child Advocate, Ms. Leung worked as a senior case manager at the International Children’s Center in Chicago. Ms. Leung provides expert guidance on cases involving unaccompanied children from China. Ms. Leung lives in Chicago with her husband.
Antonieta Diaz has devoted her career to working with victims of domestic violence. Ms. Diaz is currently studying for her doctorate in psychology at Northwestern University. Ms. Diaz lives with her family in Chicago.
Mirela Vesa has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and has worked with unaccompanied immigrant children for the past five years. Ms. Vesa, herself an immigrant from Romania, also speaks French, Spanish, and Hungarian. She teaches at a private elementary school and is working toward her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Development. She lives with her family in Evanston.
Board of Directors
Fanny Clonch, Chicago Public Schools
Antonieta Diaz, Chicago Abused Women’s Coalition
Deb Hass, Serendipity Consulting
Andrea Jett, McCormick Tribune Foundation
Jennifer Nagda, MALDEF, Chicago
Vanessa Lucas Melendez, Attorney
Kathy Pate, Attorney
Elissa Steglich, American Friends Service Committee
Advisory Board
Jacqueline Bhabha, Executive Director, University Committee in Human Rights, Harvard University
Elizabeth Dallam, Protection Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Brigette DeLay, JD, MSW, UNICEF International, Geneva
Susan Krehbiel, Director for Children’s Services, Lutheran Immigrant & Refugee Services
Irena Lieberman, Director, Commission on Immigration, American Bar Association
Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director, National Immigrant Justice Center
Christopher Nugent, Holland & Knight
Linda Rio, former Director, Child Custody Pro Bono Project, American Bar Association
Hugo Ruiz, Director, Youth & Residential Services, Heartland Alliance
Susan Schmidt, Seeking Asylum Alone Project
Julie Gerber Sollinger, Attorney, Office of the Public Guardian of Cook County
Aryah Somers, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
Angela Coin-Vigil, Baker & McKenzie
Wendy Young, Coordinator, U.S. Government and External Relations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Adriana Ysern

Human Commodity
After being orphaned in Morocco, Fanny Clonch was trapped in households where she was nothing more than a commodity. The story of her grandmother, who as a child had been sold into slavery and eventually escaped, inspired Fanny to find a way out. Fanny’s own account tells the story of so many unaccompanied immigrant children who find themselves alone in the United States.
Reported and co-produced by Alex Kotlowitz and edited and co-produced by Amy Dorn. [12:46 min.]
Exodus of One, by Alex Kotlowitz for
This American Life
Just three years old, Georgia was caught by immigration officials when a Milwaukee woman brought her into the country illegally from Jamaica. She ended up at a residential shelter in Chicago. No one knew much about Georgia—where she was from in Jamaica, who her parents were, or how she ended up with this woman from Milwaukee. After six months, a local reporter found her mother in Jamaica, so she was sent back—to the same woman who gave her up. While it seemed like the obvious choice, it worried those who had taken care of her. What does it mean to send a child back to a parent who is willing to give her away? Five years later, reporter Alex Kotlowitz traveled to Jamaica to find out what happened to Georgia. [42 min.]
at the University of Chicago
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Chicago, IL 60637
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info@immigrantchildadvocacy.org
© 2006 Immigrant Child Advocacy Center.
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Axie Breen and Brian Robinson
Home page main photo by Tony Armour.
All others by Kathy Richland Pick.


