Family Finding Success In Mexico Depends On Knowing Correct City And State

Successful family finding depends on the ability of case workers to gather necessary information during interviews. In many instances, a parent is asked during their initial court appearance to provide the names of relatives who can be contacted and who may be willing to participate in planning for the future of the child relative entering foster care.

One of the biggest challenges for the State and non-profit organizations that are contracted to perform this mandated family finding is that their staff may have little or no experience in identifying and locating family members living in Mexico. Fundamental pieces of information that must be gathered are the name of the city and state in Mexico where a parent or other adult relatives are living. Unfortunately, many case workers have little knowledge about the names of Mexican states.

Here is a breakdown about these states along with some of the challenges to getting the right information so a good family finding effort in Mexico can be initiated:

Mexico has thirty-one states along with an area called Distrito Federal, meaning federal district. This is the equivalent to the District of Colombia (D.C.). For Mexico, the federal district is often referred to as D.F.

Even though the country is called Mexico, one of the Mexican states is sometimes referred to as Mexico. So how can you tell the difference? In most cases, Mexican documents and addresses will use the form Edo. de Mexico, meaning "State of Mexico," when referring to the state itself. You may also see the complete name, Estado de Mexico, or the less common state abbreviation, Edomex. For example, if you were trying to find someone living in the city of Toluca in the State of Mexico, the proper form could be any of the following: Toluca, Estado de Mexico, Toluca, Edo. de Mexico or Toluca, Edomex.

Unfortunately, a few prominent Mexican publications such as Guia Roji's Mexican atlas and the national Mexico telephone books refer to Edo. de Mexico as simply "Mexico." It's important that interviewers understand the information they are being given with regard to the name of a Mexican state. If this information is inaccurate, family finding efforts may fail immediately.

One of the challenges for U.S. case workers is that they don't receive training that includes a general overview of Mexico. This should be part of standard family finding training. There are more than 50 million Hispanics in the U.S. Census records, which show that two-thirds of Hispanics are of Mexican origin -- roughly 33 million U.S. residents.

Take those statistics a step further and of the more than 83,000 foster children identified as being Hispanic, several thousands of these children should have a biological parent, grandparent or other adult family members living in Mexico. Pursuant to the Fostering Connections Act of 2008, state agencies are mandated to identify and locate these adult relatives whether they live in the U.S., Mexico, or other countries.

Another challenge for case workers and people in general is that we are bombarded by inaccurate information that is then perceived as being correct. This is especially true when it comes to the names of Mexican cities and how the information is presented. I was watching the program, "48 Hours Mystery," which opened with a scene from a city in Mexico. The caption read, "Ajijic, Mexico." I just happened to be watching the show with a friend from Guadalajara who immediately said, "Hey, that's in the Mexican state of Jalisco! There's no Ajijic, Mexico!" Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco, and my friend knows the town, Ajijic. The proper form for the city is Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico.

Would any of us feel that saying or writing Houston, USA would seem appropriate or correct? To someone unfamiliar with the U.S. states, they may have no idea where Houston is based on this information. Worse, who can say if the post office would deliver a letter addressed to just Houston, USA? So when we talk about Mexican cities and states, accuracy is critical in how this information is written. Any family finding specialist would be challenged to do proper due diligence if they are working with incorrect information.

If you have had a family finding issue because of the name of a Mexican city or state, take heart. Not even CBS and 48 Hours seem to know how to correctly list a Mexican address. State agencies working to place a child in foster care are mandated by both state and federal laws to identify and locate any family members in Mexico. It's imperative that all information is as accurate as possible. Anything less can slow down or stop a family finding effort altogether.

This lack of knowledge about Mexico is a prime reason why locating someone living in Mexico may require the services of family finding specialists who know the ins and outs of Mexican cities, states and much more. It is virtually impossible for state agencies to locate family members of foster children when their staff doesn't know the correct city and the state in Mexico where these relatives may be living. For the sake of the thousands of Hispanic foster children, state agencies need to do better.