IMMIGRANT

An individual not born in the United States, Puerto Rico, or an outlying US territory, who migrates from his/her country of nationality or any country in which they last habitually resided and chooses to seek a better economic, social or religious life abroad. Immigrants, and children of immigrants, can be citizens, Legal Permanent Residents "a step toward naturalization as a US citizen" or non-citizens, either legal or undocumented without legal status. 		 
close
  REFUGEE

Those who flee their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion and are unable or unwilling to return to, or avail themselves of, their home country. 		 
close
  FAMILY

Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."		  
close
  SERVICE

One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.		  
close
  COMMUNITY

A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.		  
close
  PARENTS

Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term. 		 
close
  PROGRAM

A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.		  
close
  POLICY

A written statement of principles, values, or intent that provides a basis for consistent decision making and guides the actions of staff, management, and board of trustees. A policy is intentionally broad in its language and application. The following is an example of an anti-discrimination policy:

"[Organization Name] shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers, selection of vendors, and provision of services."

In contrast, a procedure is a detailed, step-by-step description of a process. It tells the reader how to do something. Generally, policies are implemented through procedures. For example, the above anti-discrimination policy would require a detailed grievance procedure in order to operationalize it within an organization.

The governing body has the fiduciary responsibility for setting organizational policy. Therefore, policies must be approved and periodically reviewed by the organization's governing body. However, the governing body typically delegates (via policy) the responsibility for policy development to management. In owner-operated for-profit companies, the owner can act as the company's governing body, depending on the company's corporate structure.

In a public agency the responsibility for setting and reviewing policies may belong to the agency's management team, elected officials, another governmental agency, or as is often the case, a combination of the above.

  
close
  PRACTICE

Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.		  
close
  RESEARCH

For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.		  
close
  ASSESSMENT

An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.		  
close
  TEMPERAMENT

A person's disposition or nature. The intensity and range of a person's emotions are influenced by temperament. A person's temperament will define his or her activity level, regularity of bodily functions, and response to new situations or things. Temperament is also linked to a person's adaptability, quality of mood, attention span, and persistence. Individual differences in temperament are present from birth. Temperaments are thought to be hereditary, and they remain relatively consistent over time. However, individual experiences and development can effect temperament. 		 
close
  SCREEN

A preliminary test administered to a client to determine whether he/she meets eligibility criteria for the services offered by an organization. 		 
close
  PREVENTION

Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.		  
close
  CASE

A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.		  
close
  PLANNING

The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.		  
close
  TRAINING

Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.		  
close
  FOSTER PARENTS

State- or county-licensed adults who provide a temporary home for children whose birth parents are unable to care for them. Foster parents are not considered employees or personnel and are specifically referenced in all relevant standards. 		 
close
  SAMPLE

A portion or representative percentage of a greater whole.		  
close
  CULTURE

The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.		  
close
  CAREGIVER

The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS). 		 
close
  PERSONNEL

The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards		  
close
COA
USER:  PASS:  LOG IN         
SEARCH:    GO
 
Print
 
Immigrant and Refugee Resettlement: Resettlement Practice with Separated and Unaccompanied Children; Transition Services; Immigration, Citizenship and Naturalization Legal Assistance Services
  
Private Org Public Agency  

PA-IRR 9: Resettlement Practice with Separated and Unaccompanied Children

 

The agency collaborates and coordinates with other child and youth serving agencies to ensure that children suffering the effects of migration, traumatic experiences, and family separation and loss receive the comprehensive services necessary to:

  1. obtain a safe, healthy, stable living arrangement and develop supportive relationships;
  2. make a positive personal and social adjustment; and
  3. gain the cross-cultural skills and understanding of their new country and community to maintain their ethnic identity and move forward with long term adaptation.

Interpretation: Separated children, without their parents but accompanied by an adult, and possibly a candidate for legal guardianship, and unaccompanied children are widely considered to be at higher risk than parent-accompanied youth for physical abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation, child labor and trafficking, reduced access to opportunities, and family breakdown. While there is movement toward a uniform approach in serving separated and unaccompanied children, within the context of the US Refugee Resettlement program, currently these groups of minors receive differing levels of support services.

Unaccompanied and separated children seeking asylum in the United States present special considerations for care, service, and highly complex legal claims. Depending on regional differences and individual circumstances, these children may be at risk for disadvantage due also to the legal system: each state establishes its own juvenile justice laws and regulations, and adult centered immigration law results in limited federal guidance for child legal representation and judicial determinations. Accordingly, to protect such children service providers should possess, or have cooperative agreements with professionals who possess, a high level of direct experience working with child asylum seekers, including immigration legal representatives with full knowledge of and long experience with children seeking asylum issues.

Research Note: A paper describing overall child welfare service system response to unaccompanied minors notes that while policies for these minors can be similar in some respects from state to state, implementation of policy at the program level takes many forms and much work remains to evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches, such as, what geographic location and type of family best supports socialization and frequent visitation. Essential positive practices noted include development of social networks and support to maintain ethnic identity in a multi-cultural society.
Research Note: Results of a well designed study using aggregate level census data found that economic status of childhood refugee arrivals differs by refugee group. The study encourages further analysis to understand individual and family factors that contribute to successful adaptation, and compliments research on factors that predispose refugee children to assimilate into U.S.-born peer groups.
Research Note: Results of a recent extensive quantitative and qualitative review of how children seeking asylum enter the federal service and legal system, and how those systems respond to unaccompanied children seeking asylum, offer conclusions about the need for a humane, coordinated response. The report also offers numerous policy and practice recommendations seeking to balance current immigration enforcement, child protection, and family reunification interests.
Research Note: A review of consistent themes in a decade of research in the psychological well being of children and adolescent refugee and asylum seekers suggests the importance of trauma assessment to determine the effects of pre-migration exposure to trauma, particularly for those with extended trauma experience, unaccompanied or separated children and youth, and those whose status is uncertain. Factors identified repeatedly as mediating psychological health that are important to assess, include: family cohesion, family support, and parent psychological health; individual factors, include: adaptability, temperament and self-esteem; and peer and community support.
NA The agency does not provide services for Separated and Unaccompanied Minor children.
NA The agency provides only legal services.

PA-IRR 9.01

 
Active efforts are initiated within 48 hours of program acceptance to establish the minor’s age, history before and after migration, and legal and guardianship status, and to maintain detailed documentation of such effort.

PA-IRR 9.02

 

Services and care extend beyond crisis stabilization to promote long-term adaptation and include, as appropriate, specialized legal, social, education, mental health and health care, that:

  1. assist the child in ascertaining the whereabouts of family members;
  2. arrange sponsorship for relatives willing and able to join the child;
  3. arrange for the child to join relatives in another country of resettlement, based on the family’s decision;
  4. determine the child’s cultural attitudes and values about family obligations, expression of thoughts and feelings, suffering, and pride;
  5. treat observed behavior associated with age-appropriate difficulties; and
  6. screen for poor health and dental health, and communicable diseases endemic to the country of origin and countries traveled through during migration.
Interpretation: Regarding element e)., a developmental approach could be helpful for discerning difficulties adapting likely to appear in pre-school children, at latency, and in adolescence.
Research Note: A mixed methods study of a program providing group education, tutoring, and socialization for minor Sudanese youth sought youth, caseworker and foster parent perspectives on youth adjustment. The study found well-being 12-18 months after resettlement to be marked by a comparatively high mean score on a child PTSD Symptom scale. At the same time, most youth reported pursuing education, a source of social support, church membership or attendance, and someone to talk to about problems.
Research Note: Exemplary prevention programs include efforts to help family members, schools, social workers, sponsors, and health care staff recognize signs of acculturation failure, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and other psychological and emotional disturbance.

PA-IRR 9.03

 

Agencies that provide care and services for trafficked children:

  1. understand the nature and effects that follow from human trafficking;
  2. effectively identify victims;
  3. make every effort in case work to provide constancy, predictability, and stability;
  4. arrange for timely, empathic care and safety planning; and
  5. support youth inclusion and participation in an appropriate education program and youth development activities.
NA The agency does not provide care and service to trafficked children and youth.

PA-IRR 9.04

 
The child’s need for a safe, stable living arrangement that affords balance between ethnic identity and adaptation to a new community and society is met directly or through referral for group care, foster care, kinship care, adoption or legal guardianship.
Interpretation: A minor in placement must be offered assistance with decision making, including legal assistance and a review of options for a living arrangement and legal definitions and issues associated with each option relative to the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Law. Counseling and support should be provided, as appropriate, regarding the long-term uncertainty of possible reunification and alternative living arrangements.
Research Note: A mixed methods study of a program providing group education, tutoring, and socialization for minor Sudanese youth sought youth, caseworker, and foster parent perspectives on youth adjustment 12-18 months after resettlement. The study noted numerous areas of practice that could be strengthened, including: increased preparation of schools to receive and support refugee youth; on-going support and training for foster parents; availability of appropriate, acceptable services; and screening for youth with skilled and sensitive interviewers who can complete “best interest” determinations that fully take into account child refugee needs.
Research Note: Professional literature providing descriptions of program experience based on child and staff self reports suggest some youth prefer and benefit from activity, socialization, and 24 hour support that group living affords, as compared to foster home care. Programs that care for trafficked children who evidence serious emotional disturbance would consider the child’s preference, age, migration experience, physical and mental health, past and current family connections, and orientation to adult authority, routines, and independent living when assessing placement alternatives.
NA The agency does not provide services for children who require a substitute living arrangement, or for whom family reunification and alternative living arrangements are possible goals.

PA-IRR 9.05

 
Youth receive appropriate individual or group counseling and support, as needed, to promote positive adjustment andto achieve personal goals.
Research Note: An exploratory study of mental health concerns and coping strategies in a sample of metropolitan area junior high and high school Asian-immigrant students found communication difficulties to be foremost. This research adds to the body of work demonstrating that coping strategies differ across cultures and individuals, that immigrant youth are prone to the effects of stress associated with “culture shock,” that expression of confusion and emotional problems may be diminished due to embarrassment and language differences., and that youth will engage in creative activities and seek social support to cope with problems.

PA-IRR 9.06

 
Service providers and caregivers actively seek out programs that can be tailored to specific refugee groups to help children build bicultural skills.
Interpretation: Programs that develop bicultural strategies could include: Weekend or community schools that teach language, arts, culture, history of the country of origin; summer camps staffed by both American and refugee personnel; and ethnic teams, cultural societies, or community associations with common social or recreational activities and teams.
Research Note: Some evidence that children who develop bicultural strategies adapt best.
QUICK JUMP TO
Top
 
PURPOSE: Immigrants and refugees acquire the cross-cultural information, skills, and social support network needed to gain stability, make a positive personal and social adjustment, maintain family connections and well-being, and achieve educational, economic and civic participation goals.
 
RELATED FILES