TY - JOUR
T1 - A child-centered refugee resettlement program in the United States
AU - Xu, Qingwen
N1 - Funding Information:
Family-centered resettlement programs. Social services provided to refugee children and their families in the U.S. generally focus on one of two resettlement stages. For the first stage, services are provided mainly to assist in immediate resettlement efforts, that is, for the first six months following a refugee’s arrival. The second stage includes long-term resettlement and integration programs and other mainstream social services such as Medicaid, Food Stamps and other public welfare benefits. The initial resettlement service is generally administrated by the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program and funded by the Department of State’s (DOS) Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), largely through the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) fund. In fiscal year 2004, the DOS designated $132 million for refugee admissions and resettlement programs. The UNHCR is a designated partner in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program and is involved in the process of determining processing priorities, setting the annual cap for admission to the U.S. and other host countries, and facilitating refugee migration. The MRA fund is distributed to a network of over 400 voluntary agencies (Volags)
Funding Information:
throughout the U.S. through the Reception and Placement (R&P) grant. The DOS contracts with Volags to provide refugees with food, housing, employment, medical care, counseling, and other services to help them make a rapid transition to economic self-sufficiency. While R&P grants are earmarked to fund services to help resettle refugees during their first 30 days in the U.S., recipients of R&P grants are expected to augment these funds with private cash and in-kind contributions, and provide services to refugees, including sponsorship, pre-arrival resettlement planning, reception upon arrival, basic needs support for at least 30 days, and case management and tracking for 90 to 180 days.
Funding Information:
Domestic long-term refugee resettlement and integration programs are closely coordinated by the PRM but funded by the DHHS’s Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR). Ongoing benefits for the newly arrived refugees include transitional cash assistance, health benefits, and a wide variety of other services. The primary focus is job placement, cultural orientation, English language acquisition, and health care access. Most services at this stage are provided up to the first eight months after arrival; refugees are expected to become employed and self-sufficient after eight months. For example, Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance are only available for the first eight months after their arrival; after this period, unemployed and low-income single people and childless couples are no longer eligible for cash assistance. Families with children 18 years old and under have to turn to mainstream welfare programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which assists poor families with financial assistance for more than two years, and Medicaid, which provides health benefits for unemployed and low-income families. States have flexibility in designing their mainstream welfare programs, thus the cash and medical benefits available in each state vary in terms of time limits, and benefit types and amounts. Under the DHHS umbrella, additional services are offered such as family-strengthening programs, youth and elderly services, adjustment counseling and mental health services aimed to further assist refugee families adjust to their new lives in the U.S. However, social services provided through the refugee resettlement system such as employment services under the State Formula Grant Programs are available only for the first five years after arrival in the U.S.; services for refugees and families are structured to promote employment and self-sufficiency for much less than five years.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Refugee children are exposed to numerous risk factors resulting from war, genocide and resettlement, and are facing multiple difficulties to cope with the resettlement process. These challenges set refugee children apart from the mainstream community and can stifle their overall adjustment and development. Unfortunately, policy makers have paid little attention to the caring for refugee children during their initial resettlement. This paper examines systematic barriers to refugee children's successful resettlement in the U.S., and presents a child-centered framework as an option to better address the needs of refugee children, and offers recommendations for policy changes and effective social work practice.
AB - Refugee children are exposed to numerous risk factors resulting from war, genocide and resettlement, and are facing multiple difficulties to cope with the resettlement process. These challenges set refugee children apart from the mainstream community and can stifle their overall adjustment and development. Unfortunately, policy makers have paid little attention to the caring for refugee children during their initial resettlement. This paper examines systematic barriers to refugee children's successful resettlement in the U.S., and presents a child-centered framework as an option to better address the needs of refugee children, and offers recommendations for policy changes and effective social work practice.
KW - Child-centered framework
KW - Refugee children
KW - Resettlement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38049174210&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1300/J500v05n03_03
DO - 10.1300/J500v05n03_03
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:38049174210
SN - 1556-2948
VL - 5
SP - 37
EP - 59
JO - Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies
JF - Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies
IS - 3
ER -