Resettlement challenges faced by refugee claimant families in Montreal: lack of access to child care

Adult refugee claimants experience several well‐documented post‐migratory challenges. Little is known about the resettlement process for refugee claimant families with children. This study reports on 75 open‐ended, in‐depth interviews with refugee claimant families in Montreal about their resettlement challenges and their proposed solutions to them. These interviews were conducted with 33 dyads and triads of children and parents attending a paediatric hospital. Experiences accessing formal and informal child care in Montreal were addressed. Subsequently, a comparative policy analysis was conducted on residency eligibility criteria for child care subsidization. Twenty‐eight out of 39 parents (73%) report a lack of informal or formal child care and 15 out of 33 families (39%) propose improving access to formal child care services. They describe a lack of informal child care as a result of reduced social networks, and affordability as a barrier to formal child care services. Refugee claimants are not eligible for subsidized child care in Quebec. A comparative policy analysis within Canada and comparable countries reveals that this situation is not unique to Quebec. However, most provinces and European countries offer child care subsidies to refugee claimants. Refugee claimants should qualify for child care subsidies. Social workers and community organizations should consider their clients' child care needs in designing programmes and services.     

Family separation and the impacts on refugee settlement in Australia

In recent years, governments, researchers, non‐government organisations, service providers and international institutions have become increasingly concerned with how to best support the settlement of refugees in UNHCR resettlement nations. Anxieties about the formation of a refugee underclass and the intergenerational impacts of social stratification motivate such inquiries. Settlement is often viewed through either of two lenses; the biomedical frame or the social inclusion frame. These frameworks are complementary rather than exclusive. It is from this combined theoretical perspective that this paper explores the impacts of family separation on the settlement of refugees in Australia. Drawing on focus groups and in‐depth interviews across three refugee background communities in metropolitan Melbourne, the paper finds that family separation has pervasive impacts on the wellbeing of the participants and on their capacity to participate and direct their own futures. Family separation is found to be a barrier to settlement and therefore a crucial consideration for the design and provision of settlement services to people with refugee backgrounds.     

Refugee family reunification and mental health in resettlement

Family reunification is widely recognised as a vital issue for people from refugee backgrounds, but relatively little research has been reported on its relation to mental health or resettlement outcomes. A study was carried out over the course of 2011 involving 46 participants from refugee backgrounds with direct experience of the family reunification process in New Zealand. Participants from multiple ethnic communities in Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton were invited to discuss and share their experiences. Structured individual interviews were carried out with 15 individual participants, as well as 13 focus groups, in addition to detailed reviews of case histories. Research questions focused on the perceived impacts of family reunification on resettlement outcomes, health and wellbeing. Eighty-five percent of participants reported family reunification issues as the paramount obstacle to their successful resettlement. Potential practical applications, limitations and priorities for future studies are discussed.     

Exploring intergenerational communication and stress in refugee families

More than half of the refugees who have resettled to the United States in recent years have been youth. Refugee youth have often witnessed or experienced violence and family separation prior to resettlement and face barriers to successful resettlement such as language and educational challenges. These factors elevate risk for mental and emotional distress, and protective factors like strong familial relationships are important to promoting mental well‐being. This study utilized focus groups with 36 refugees ages 18 to 25 from four ethnic groups to explore conceptualizations of and communication about mental and emotional distress within and outside of family systems. Youth reported a nuanced conceptualization of their premigration and postmigration stressors and their patterns of communication about distress in three domains: (a) exposure to traumatic stress prior to resettlement, (b) stressful experiences in resettlement, and (c) communication about mental health inside and outside of family groups.     

The New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy: implications for identity,acculturation and civic participation

The process of resettlement as a refugee often involves adapting to, and reconciling with, a new social reality. The complexities associated with acculturation across age, gender and family dynamics are navigated within greater social contexts that may encourage or hinder the processes of adjustment and settlement. This paper addresses the recent New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy in light of contemporary theoretical developments with regard to the segmented assimilation thesis and the forms of social capital that, when available, may be mobilised to help refugee-background individuals, families and communities to forge new routes for participation and belonging. In particular, we examine the strategy and its five main goals of self-sufficiency, participation, health and well-being, education and housing as these relate to the possibilities and tensions at play in the wider acculturation experiences of New Zealand's diverse refugee populations.     

Cultural case workers in child disability services: an evidence-based model of cultural responsiveness for refugee families

The medical/disabled category for quota refugees selected for resettlement in New Zealand allows entry to those who have either a medical condition that can be treated or helped in New Zealand or a disability that requires support. Children from refugee and other culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds with impairments comprise an increasing proportion of the caseloads of Auckland region child health and disability services. For people from refugee backgrounds, the New Zealand disability system can be complex, difficult to understand and hard to navigate. Disability therapeutic, rehabilitative and support services are often non-existent in countries of origin. The interventions offered in western countries such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech language therapy may be unknown and therefore poorly understood by refugee clients and families. This article presents the findings of an evaluation of the establishment of cultural caseworker positions in the Waitemata District Health Board Child Development Service.     

“If they misbehaved,we took a stick to discipline them”: Refugee mothers' struggles raising children in the United States

Although there are compelling examples of stress put upon refugee families, there is little systematic attention placed upon how the refugee women themselves view child‐rearing. In this exploratory research, refugee women's narratives concerning their understanding and perceptions of child‐rearing in the United States are studied. Seventeen refugee women raising children living in the Greater Portland region in Maine were interviewed. While resettling in the United States, the participants shared being overburdened by the loss of social structures that supported their parenting beliefs and strategies back home. They perpetually encounter cultural conflicts in the United States that result in a continuous process of contradictory interpretations and negotiations while rearing and disciplining children. Recommendations are provided for service providers working with this population. Professionals have to be cognizant of the hierarchical decision‐making and retributive strategies used by refugee families when disciplining children. Tools, that is, explaining, teaching, and rewarding children for coping with parenting challenges without resorting to punitive discipline methods can be introduced to refugee families. Professionals need to focus on providing refugee families with basic needs and addressing social and emotional challenges so that they can better integrate with the new communities as they rebuild their lives.     

Storytelling as a tool: A family-based intervention for newly resettled Syrian refugee children

The conflict in Syria has resulted in a humanitarian emergency and one of the largest refugee crises in history. The Canadian government has welcomed over 40,000 Syrian refugees. Stressors caused by instability, conflict, and the resettlement process put refugee children at high risk for mental health problems. Anxiety is a common problem experienced by refugee children. Thus, early intervention is crucial to promote their adequate adaptation and development. This study explores the impact and value of a culturally specific family-based storybook intervention for newly resettled Syrian refugee children. Six refugee families participated. Anxiety symptoms were measured before and after the intervention, and families shared their experiences, thoughts, and feedback regarding the intervention. The results showed a significant decrease in children's anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, qualitative analyses demonstrated that the intervention was culturally relevant to Syrian refugee families and that it was effective in promoting children's overall well-being, agency, and family connectedness.     

“It's not all tied up with bureaucrats and funding”: Autonomous volunteer participation in the rural resettlement of refugees

This paper reports on a study that explored the experiences, perceptions and motivations of a new type of autonomous volunteer emerging in modern society, in particular, those working to assist in the rural resettlement of refugees in Australia. The volunteers filled a gap left by under resourced government and community services. In‐depth semi structured interviews revealed that their motivation was due in part, to the lack of bureaucratic' red tape'. Their drive to address social issues was based also in part on values to see social justice expressed in their community. Some challenges and tensions due to cultural differences were identified. Questions for community development and social capital are raised. Implications are raised for volunteer groups' and resettlement organisations' policy and practice to enhance the resettlement process for both the host community and those with a refugee background.     

The Identity of Displaced Christian Karen in the Context of Resettlement

More than 200,000 displaced Karen from Burma have been “warehoused” in displaced persons' camps on the Thai-Burma border for more than 20 years. Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has embarked on the durable solution of resettlement to third countries for these people. In this paper, the experiences and perceptions of resettlement of Christian Karen are explored through the findings from two focus groups with recently arrived refugees, augmented by contextual discussions with Christian Karen community leaders in Australia. Focus group participants displayed a strong and overt sense of identity, both as individual Karen and as part of the Christian Karen community, locally and trans-nationally, indicating that Christian Karen identity remains intact during displacement and strongly influences the resettlement experience for this group.     

‘Yes,we can; but together’: social capital and refugee resettlement

Resettled refugees need a network of relationships to ensure they can live meaningful lives in New Zealand. These relationships are complex and exist between individuals and communities at local and national levels. Conceptualised as social capital, these relationships provide the invisible glue holding society together. Drawing on data from a research project on the Somali community in Auckland, this paper reflects on contemporary developments within the refugee sector and highlights the ways in which social capital provides further insight into the experiences of refugee integration at a local level in New Zealand.     

Welfare reforms and the Refugee Resettlement Strategy: an opportunity to achieve meaningful employment outcomes for New Zealanders from refugee backgrounds?

Despite employment being consistently identified as a key factor in successful refugee resettlement, people from refugee backgrounds in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in unemployment statistics. Of those who do gain employment, few secure work that is adequately remunerated and commensurate with the person's skills and qualifications. This paper explores whether the two recent government-driven initiatives, the welfare reforms and the New Zealand Refugee Resettlement Strategy, provide an opportunity to address these issues. Based on previous research, the authors identify the main employment barriers facing people from refugee backgrounds. They argue that while the welfare reforms and the Refugee Resettlement Strategy are underpinned by a desire to see more people in employment, for real change to occur, an integrated holistic approach is needed. This approach needs to include additional resourcing for government-funded specialist one-on-one employment programmes that are available in all regions where refugees are resettled. These programmes combined with access to fully funded English language tuition and work experience and internship opportunities would help reduce the barriers people from refugee backgrounds face when seeking employment.     

Social work with African refugee children and their families

This article explores the issues and dilemmas that arise when social workers attempt to work with African refugee and asylum seeking children and their families. There is a complex interplay between social workers’ skills and knowledge in this area and the prevailing social attitudes towards these groups of service users. By initially setting the context of mass movement of peoples from situations of danger in their countries of origin, the discussion highlights the key issues and shows the tensions of practice intervention in this area. Drawing on a small‐scale research study with social workers and discussions with immigration officers and workers in voluntary agencies working with refugees and asylum seekers, the article draws some conclusions about the lessons that can be learnt in order to improve practice.     

Arriving old: A qualitative study of elder refugee women’s self-perceptions of the first year of resettlement

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examines eight elder women’s experiences of resettling with their family and the protective factors that enhanced their resiliency. The implications for social work include the need to assess elder refugees’ strengths, resilience, pre-resettlement functioning instead of services that might encourage integration into the dominant culture and community, and that the refugee experience is a lifelong experience that shapes and informs various stages of life.     

Refugee community organizations in Canada: From the margins to the mainstream? A challenge and opportunity for social workers

Various waves of asylum seekers and resettled refugees arriving in Canada since the 1980s reflect the eruption of war and ethnic conflicts in parts of Africa, Central America, and South East Asia. Contrary to long‐established immigrant communities such as the Greeks, Italians, and Portuguese, these newcomers have had to fend for themselves and develop their own support networks, leading to new forms of organizing and to the formation of refugee community organizations (RCOs). This article discusses the findings of a 2008–2011 study on RCOs in Canada, specifically in Montréal and Winnipeg. The objective of the study was to understand the context in which RCOs have developed, the populations they serve, and the role they play in their ethnic communities. Working within the RCO paradigm, we analyze the creation of these organizations, contrast findings with research done in the UK, and raise issues for social work practice. Key Practitioner Message: ● Innovative research in Canada documenting refugee community organizations gives fresh insight regarding community organizing practice; ● Documents the situation of asylum seekers and refugees on an individual and a collective basis in terms of needs; ● Focuses on the necessity of building bridges with refugee organizations to bring them into the mainstream.     

Isolation and Insecurity: Resettlement Issues Among Muslim Refugee Women in Perth,Western Australia

Refugee Muslim women face a number of formidable obstacles in the resettlement process within Australia. As Muslims, they are a religious minority that has come under considerable racial attack in recent years in the wake of international terrorism. As refugees, they are struggling to put past traumas behind them and find ‘security’ in a strange land with different customs. As women, they are trying to find a voice for themselves amidst ethnic traditions that limit their range of expression and an Australian society that aspires to, but has not yet achieved, equality for women. Our qualitative study, upon which this paper is based, explored resettlement issues of Muslim refugee women during their first five years of arrival in Perth, Australia. It is based on focus groups and semi‐structured interviews with 80 Muslim refugee women: 35 Iraqi, 34 Sudanese and 11 Afghan. Our study re‐affirms that well‐documented issues of resettlement continue to be poor English language competency, securing employment and accommodation and gender‐specific problems. In addition, however, our study highlights a new and emerging issue, which is that of personal, psychological and cultural insecurity, heightened by the current political climate and exacerbated by their religious background. This leads to problematic ‘intersections’ with an Australian society that is far more complex and more difficult to cope with than is portrayed in popular discourse and political rhetoric of the easy‐going ‘lucky country’.     

Upskilling as integration policy: Making the most of refugees' human capital in a context of skill shortage

The integration of refugees is a serious social policy problem in many advanced countries, and current trends suggest that this issue is unlikely to disappear soon. At the same time, these countries are also experiencing skill shortages in expanding sectors. These twin pressures create an opportunity to use education as a tool to pursue refugee integration. We investigate how refugees are trained in a country, Switzerland, where employers play an important role in vocational training. We discuss the national strategy for refugee integration and then focus on the implementation in one French speaking Canton (Vaud) on the basis of a qualitative vignette survey among case workers in charge of supporting refugee integration. At implementation, we do not find much evidence of a generalised upskilling strategy being applied in Switzerland. On the contrary, the main emphasis is on quick access to employment, supported by vocational training mostly in the low-skill segment. We conclude that the lack of an upskilling strategy is due to lack of coordination among policy areas and limited interest by employers.     

Staff-Family Relations and Institutional Care Policies

As institutional care providers increasingly recognize the importance of the family, the quality of staff-family relations has become a concern. This study investigated the relationship between selected facility care policies and staff-family relationships. Data secured from staff members and family members in rural nursing homes revealed a relationship between the family role that the care policy prescribed and the degree of staff-family integration. The study concluded that care policies viewing family members as clients will have positive consequences for staff and families and ultimately the residents.     

The Sound Of Silence: Listening to What Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children Say and Do Not Say

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are noted at times tobe silent or circumspect about their origins and circumstanceswhen faced with authority figures, including social workers.Using some key ideas from ethnography and narrative therapy,this article examines existing literature on silence in thelives of unaccompanied minors, and on how the choices they makeabout talking and not talking can hinder or facilitate resettlement.It then describes a small research study within which interviewswere undertaken with local authority social workers to elicittheir responses to unaccompanied minors in such circumstances.These revealed that practitioners understood the children’ssilence in varied ways, and that they could be practically helpful,therapeutically minded and reliable companions, accompanyingthe young people towards resettlement, with or without knowingthe detailed ‘truth’ about their past     

Comparing Families and Staff in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living: Implications for Social Work Practice

Nursing homes and residential care/assisted living settings provide care to 2.4 million individuals. Few studies compare the experience of, and relationships between, family and staff in these settings, despite ongoing family involvement and evidence that relationships are problematic. Data from 488 families and 397 staff members in 24 settings examined family involvement and family and staff burden, depressive symptoms, and perceptions; and staff absenteeism and turnover. There were few differences across setting types. Although conflict rarely occurred, there was room for improvement in family–staff relations; this area, and preparing family for their caregiving roles, are appropriate targets for social work intervention.