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Abstract: 

Doe v. Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center Commission, __ F.3d __ (4th Cir. 2021), is a major decision involving the treatment rights of unaccompanied immigrant children detained at SVJC. The lower (district) court granted defendant’s motion with respect to the charge that SVJC provided inadequate mental health care. The standard of “the exercise of professional judgment” expressed first in Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307 (1982), is adopted, and the decision here is an affirmation of a conditional right to adequate mental health care for illegal, unaccompanied immigrant children and a rejection of using deliberate indifference as the standard by which to measure the adequacy of such care. The exercise of professional judgment is the preferred standard.

Keywords: Doe v. Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center Commission; “professional judgment” vs. “deliberate indifference” standard; Youngberg v. Romeo

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.