Elizabeth Kennedy is a social scientist who focuses on the experiences and needs of child, youth and forced migrants and their families. From 2013 to 2014, she completed a Fulbright Fellowship in El Salvador, in which just short of 600 interviews were conducted with over 650 child migrants (about one-third of them girls) traveling alone and in families and numerous government officials, NGOs and researchers throughout the Northern Triangle. In previous years, Kennedy published articles, briefs and editorials on why Central American children are leaving, their potential unmet mental health needs in detention, and high rejection rates of Central American asylum claims.  Kennedy has over a decade’s experience in youth programming with children from low-income backgrounds in multiple countries and have consulted for UNHCR, journalists, film makers, and artists.