1,450 Afghan children were evacuated to the US without their relatives

Desperate families sell their daughters to survive in Afghanistan 5:45

(CNN) -

An 8-year-old Afghan girl, part of a group of minors evacuated to the United States, sobs every night after her aunt puts her to bed.

Another 17-year-old Afghan boy wakes up clutching his pillow and yelling his little brother's name.

Hundreds of Afghan children who remain in the custody of the United States government continue to ask questions that no one knows how to answer.

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They are among the roughly 1,450 Afghan children who were evacuated from Afghanistan to the United States in August without their parents.

Months after their arrival, it is unclear when, how, or even if some of their families will be able to reunite.

The large number, first reported by Reuters and updated with recent figures that CNN obtained from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, reveals a devastating reality of evacuations and their aftermath.

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Pilot recounts how his plane was shot down by the Taliban 3:17

"It's shocking ... the idea that there are more than 1,000 children without their families right now, potentially feeling lonely and scared," says Dr. Sabrina Perrino, an Afghan-American pediatrician in California who hopes to become a foster mother to help.

Many of the children tried to flee Afghanistan with their families but were separated in chaos, advocates say.

Some lost contact with their parents during the bomb attack at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.

And some of his parents did not survive the terrorist attack.

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Authorities say the vast majority of the 1,450 children who were brought to the United States without their parents were quickly released to live with adoptive parents, including other family members with whom they fled or relatives already living in the United States.

Some were reunited with their families through an expedited selection process that the Biden administration created for Afghan children.

But about 250 of the children remain in the custody of the US government, according to statistics the Office of Refugee Resettlement recently provided to CNN.

And most of those children, advocates say, have no relatives to meet with in the United States.

Families and advocates who spoke to CNN said the children, already traumatized by what they went through in Afghanistan, now live in limbo and are desperate for answers on what's next.

Young Afghans' video calls with their parents are a lifesaver

Two teenagers sit on a couch in a living room in Northern Virginia, staring blankly.

Ramin, 17, and Emal, 16, weren't supposed to go to the United States without their parents.

The close friends, whom CNN identifies only by first name to protect the safety of their families, were neighbors in Kabul.

Together, they tried to flee the country with their families in August.

But they were separated in the attack on the airport.

Only the boys and one uncle made it out.

His parents and siblings were left behind.

When Ramin arrived in the United States in September, he was desperate, says Wida Amir, a board member of the Afghan-American Foundation who met him when she was helping to translate for recently arrived evacuees.

"He was like, 'Take me back, send me back,'" recalls Amir.

Fear for the safety of his parents and siblings overwhelmed Ramin.

Back in Kabul, he had been so close to his 18-month-old little brother (they had spent almost 24 hours a day together) that he couldn't imagine living apart.

One night at the Virginia shelter where he and Emal were taken after their arrival, Ramin woke up clutching his pillow like a baby and calling for his brother.

Emal, 16, says she wishes every day for the opportunity to be together with her parents.

After spending more than a month in the shelter, the children now live with Emal's uncle and his family, who came to the United States almost five years ago on a special immigrant visa after working with USAID in Afghanistan.

The teens have started attending high school and say they are trying to focus on building a new life in America.

They are grateful for the opportunity to live safely.

But adjusting has been difficult, knowing that their families in Afghanistan are still in danger.

They talk to their parents almost every day.

But the first video calls were difficult.

"Everyone was crying. We just looked at each other. It was difficult to have a conversation," Emal says through an interpreter.

Now, he says, those calls keep him going.

"If I don't talk to them or see their faces," he says, "I can't sleep."

Teens say they want to reunite with their parents and siblings in the United States.

But her family isn't sure where to turn to make that happen.

"It's something I always hope and wish for," says Emal.

• Afghanistan came to the end of an era this year, but what's next?

Most interpreters, no passport to leave Afghanistan 1:28

There is a "big question" that has not been answered about Afghan children

Advocates who spoke to CNN say the procedures for reunification with parents who remain in Afghanistan or other countries remain unclear.

"Whose job is it to bring parents and children together, and then where do they do it? ... That's a big question we're grappling with," says Jennifer Podkul, vice president of policy for Kids in Need of Defense, an organization that helps unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children.

The Department of Health and Human Services says the government is doing everything it can to help reunite unaccompanied Afghan minors with their caregivers, including parents and immediate family, who remain in Afghanistan.

But leaving the country remains a significant challenge, the agency said, describing the reunification process as difficult, noting that it could take considerable time.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State have not responded to questions from CNN about the process of these family reunifications.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with a group of unaccompanied Afghan children in September when he toured Germany's Ramstein Air Base.

According to NPR, he told the group that the Americans were eager to welcome them and that the United States would try to help their families and friends who remained in Afghanistan.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not specify how many of the 1,450 children brought to the United States as unaccompanied minors have been reunited with their parents or how many have parents who remain in Afghanistan, two figures requested by CNN.

Officials have noted that the number of Afghan children remaining in custody is a small fraction of the total number of Afghans who were evacuated to the United States.

But what happens to those children should be of primary concern, says Ashley Huebner, associate director of legal services for the National Center for Immigrant Justice.

"It has been very difficult," he says.

"There is a lot of frustration ... with the lack of information, the lack of movement, the real lack of urgency that we feel from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and others about what is going to happen to these children, and why things they are taking so long. "

Some Afghan children have trouble eating, knowing their families are hungry

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said its Office of Refugee Resettlement takes the safety and well-being of the children in its care "very seriously."

"ORR's mission is to ensure that children in ORR's care are safe, healthy and united with family members or other appropriate sponsors as quickly and safely as possible," the spokesperson said.

Advocates who have spoken with children who remain in government custody say many of them are struggling to cope with the separation from their parents and struggling to cope with the trauma they suffered before fleeing Afghanistan.

Every time Sima Quraishi visits a shelter that houses Afghan children in Chicago, the children tell him how much they miss their families.

"They say, 'You look like mom.' They hug me. And they talk about their parents," says Quraishi, director of the Resource Center for Muslim Women.

When she looks at the children, Quraishi says that she sees herself.

She was born in Afghanistan and came to the United States as an orphan more than 30 years ago.

And he is trying to cheer up the children and give them hope.

But it's difficult, she says.

"There is a lot of support from the government that they want to make sure they find their families. But how long will it take? None of us know," says Quraishi.

"We don't even know what's going to happen to these kids."

Afghan passengers board a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during the evacuation from Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August.

At the Starr Commonwealth emergency intake site in Albion, Michigan, Afghan children have told lawyers how worried they have been for months, says Jennifer Vanegas of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, whose team has spoken with detained children. In the shelter.

"It is heartbreaking. Many of their families are in hiding, they do not have enough food, they have no way to get out ... We have had children who tell us they have problems eating because they know the families are hungry," he says.

The roughly two dozen Afghan minors at Bethany Christian Services facilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania constantly ask what can be done to help their families, says Nathan Bult, the organization's senior vice president of public and government affairs.

"Some of these children know that their parents have died. I think a larger number really don't know. And we don't know. And I don't think the US government knows. And that's the hardest thing to tell you. to a child sometimes, honestly, we don't know. "

Other children have managed to connect with friends or family on WhatsApp, but that does not make the situation easier.

"They know where their parents are, and their parents say, 'We're not sure,' and they're trying to escape the Taliban. Between the fear of the unknown and the fear of what they know and may not do anything about, it's like a constant adverse childhood experience, "says Bult, using the term experts use to describe traumatic circumstances that affect children.

"My hope and prayer is that all of these children can be reunited with their extended family or immediate family, but knowing what we know about their stories, there are some children who are never going to be reunited with their family," says Bult.

And every moment children remain in government custody could compound the trauma they have to deal with, says Perrino, a San Diego pediatrician and board member of the Afghan-American National Community Organization.

That's one of the reasons so many Afghans want to become adoptive parents, he says.

Perrino is one of them.

But the process of becoming a foster parent is lengthy and lengthy, and so far, most Afghan families who signed up have yet to qualify, Perrino says.

While working on preparing the paperwork, Perrino has been telling his two sons about the situation.

"We have talked about the fact that there are children who have no family and that we want them to come to our house," he says.

"I try to explain to them that until these children find their families, we can still help them feel like children, and just play and have fun."

Aunt says the support she provides will never be enough

Even children who live with family members are having a difficult time.

Ferishta sees the pain on the faces of his niece and nephew every day.

They now live with her in Virginia, but their minds are thousands of miles apart.

8-year-old Mina and 13-year-old Ahmad Faisal tried to flee Afghanistan with their parents and older brother.

But the airport bombing destroyed his family.

The children arrived in the United States in September, helped by a neighbor who took them to safety.

But her mother was killed in the blast and the rest of her family was left behind, Ferishta says.

Ahmad Faisal and Mina, who were injured in the ISIS-K attack on the Kabul airport, meet with their aunt in the United States.

CNN has blurred parts of this image.

Children were injured in the attack, which killed more than 170 people and injured at least 200 others. For months, family members had been afraid to tell them about their mother's death.

Children found out recently, Ferishta says, and their devastation deepened.

Mina keeps asking questions that her aunt doesn't know how to answer.

Why did she and her brother fly to Germany after the attack and were treated there?

Why couldn't his mom come too?

When will your dad arrive?

"Every night he starts crying himself to sleep," says Ferishta, "and sometimes he has such a hard time stopping."

Ferishta does his best to comfort her.

But now more than ever, says Ferishta, children need their father by their side.

They've been through a lot already.

They received treatment for their injuries at Landstuhl Hospital in Germany and at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington.

They then spent 20 days in a Virginia shelter for unaccompanied minors as Ferishta frantically tried to get them out.

And now, they are suffering the death of their mother as they try to adjust to their new life in America.

Ferishta says in many ways, they are the lucky ones.

If the neighbor who helped them hadn't contacted Mina and Faisal's parents, their family would probably still be looking for them.

The names and dates of birth of the children are incorrect in all official documents issued during their trip;

a problem she imagines is common for many of the Afghan children who were evacuated without their parents.

That, he fears, means that families searching for loved ones may not be able to find each other.

Ferishta knows that her family's story is just one of many.

Reuniting separated Afghan families should be the government's first priority, he says.

"All those children who came here without their parents," he says, "I can feel, every day that I am living with my niece and my nephew, how much they are suffering."

CNN's Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

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