By Victoria Brito Morales

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – Dr. Selma Yznaga, a UTRGV professor in the Department of Counseling, is the 2023 recipient of the esteemed Maria Woltjen Waymaker Award from the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.

The Brownsville native is only the third person to receive the award. The first was bestowed in 2021 to award namesake Maria Woltjen. The second was in 2022 to Chilean author Isabel Allende.

Yznaga said she is humbled and shocked to be named among such celebrated rights champions.

“When the executive director asked to speak to me about this year’s award, I thought, maybe I'll get to present the award and I wondered who it was going to be,” she said. “Then she said, ‘It's you. You're the waymaker.’”

The Waymaker Award recognizes an outstanding individual, group, or organization that has made a significant contribution toward advancing the rights and best interests of immigrant children.  

Yznaga has volunteered with the organization since 2009, when she was recruited to help with the needs of immigrant children on the U.S.-Mexico border. At that time, the center had one office and two paid employees.

Today, the Young Center organization consists of nine offices and more than 150 employees.

Yznaga currently sits on the organization’s Board of Directors, serving as board secretary and as a member of the board’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee.

She was presented the award on Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Harlingen by Young Center Executive Director Gladis Molina Alt, who felt it was important to present it in the Rio Grande Valley as Yznaga is the first board member to represent South Texas.

DECADES OF ADVOCACY FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDREN

Yznaga has been with the university since 2002 in both academic and administrative positions. In addition to her role on the Young Center board, she has experience as a Volunteer Child Advocate in Harlingen, has served as an expert on best interests determination (BID) panels and continues to train the center’s child advocate volunteers in trauma-informed care for immigrant children.

Through her work, Yznaga has trained hundreds of other volunteers who advocate for immigrant children who are in the United States unaccompanied. Volunteer child advocates serve as a liaison between the child and the court, meeting with the children each week in area shelters to build a trusting relationship, so that Young Center attorneys can represent the best interests of the children in court.

“Some kids come here to work, some want to study and some are here because they want to join family that's already here,” Yznaga said. “It's the advocate’s job to get to know them, hear their history and, sometimes, that history can be heartbreaking. A lot of these kids have come from very tough lives.”

Many of the children are from countries marked by extreme poverty and violence, or from places where the government is oppressive and threatening.

“A lot of these kids have lived on their own for many years, or they've been forced to join gangs or do things that kids shouldn't have to do,” she said. “We provide a space that is warm, welcoming and safe for them to talk about who they are, why they came here and what they hope for. Some of the stories I've heard are heartbreaking, but always inspiring.”

The training began as a simple literature review of best practices, but through her hands-on experiences as a volunteer, Yznaga was able to train based on real experiences, getting to know the children and their needs.

“I was able to really understand the trauma the children were dealing with,” she said. “Hearing the things the children go through, we utilize methods to best engage them and make them feel safe.”

As a board member, she no longer serves as a volunteer, but she believes that groundwork is an essential task of the center and misses her time as a volunteer.

“That's the part of this work that I love the most, meeting these amazing kids,” she said. “They're unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable. They're so strong, so smart, so resourceful. Every one of them that I've had the privilege of meeting has taught me something, enriched me in some way.”

For more information on the Young Center, or to volunteer as a child advocate, visit theyoungcenter.org. 

ABOUT THE YOUNG CENTER

The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, founded by Maria Woltjen in 2004, protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and state and federal law.