A group of
refugee children whose needs are frequently overlooked are
children who are separated from their parents but accompanied by
some other adult (such as a sibling, extended family member, or
friend). In some situations, such children have been referred to
as “attached minors”; however, the term “separated children” has
come to be preferred internationally, to draw more attention to
their separation from parents or habitual caregivers.
While often unnoticed, separated children are present in every
refugee group. As a current example of this phenomenon, take note
of a brief comment in a
recent assessment report by a team from St. Paul-Ramsey
County, MN, regarding Hmong refugees being resettled from the
Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand:
The
assessment team reported higher than expected incidence of
distantly or unrelated youth and adults banded together as
family units. Several individuals reported to the assessment
team that they had lost virtually all of their original
family members to disease or forced separation (Wat Tham
Krabok Assessment Team Report, p. 14-15).
(For more
information, read the
BRYCS Spotlight on Hmong resettlement issues, which
features a link to related resources in the BRYCS
Clearinghouse.)
It is widely accepted that such children face greater risks than
their parent-accompanied peers for abuse, neglect, or
abandonment. Certain characteristics can help to identify
separated children who face a higher risk of family breakdown,
such as those who have weak or non-existent relationships with
their caregivers, and adolescents who are used to a high degree
of independence. While resettlement can mitigate these risks, it
does not eliminate them.
Over the last several years many other countries and
international organizations, including the United Nations, have
been focusing more intentionally on the needs of this often
invisible population. In light of this global progress, Bridging
Refugee Youth and Children's Services has recently released a
new publication,
Separated Refugee Children in the United States: Challenges and
Opportunities, which examines the needs of these
children against the context of domestic and international
service models.
In the U.S. refugee resettlement system, significant attention
and programming have been devoted to children who arrive without
any adult caregivers (typically referred to as
unaccompanied minors). However, far less attention and
programming have been committed to separated children and their
caregivers. In contrast, U.S. child welfare practitioners have
developed a discrete field of practice regarding
kinship care —the term used when extended family provide
formal or informal foster care for a relative’s child—and have
researched the prevalence and needs of kinship care families.
Looking at models outside the United States, several other
resettlement countries carry out more intensive programming for
children who arrive with a non-parental caregiver. Together,
these domestic and international models provide a useful
background for examining services to separated refugee children
in the United States.
With this new
report, the BRYCS project intends to increase awareness about
the needs of separated children, to consider other U.S. and
international models for serving these children, and to examine
current U.S. services for children resettled with non-parental
adults and whether we can and should refine existing services
for this group.
In recognition of the release this new BRYCS report, Georgetown
University’s
Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM)
organized a panel
discussion on July 29, 2004, to introduce this new resource,
and to solicit responses from representatives of federal
government, international, and child welfare agencies. Common
themes emerging from the meeting included needs such as:
•
Increased training overseas and domestically regarding the
risks and needs faced by this population
• Expanded follow up services to separated children
resettled in the United States
• Developing appropriate service systems which can be
tailored to the needs of separated children, their
caregivers, and the skills of service providers.
In addition
to a review of selected international service models and an
examination of U.S. approaches to children in domestic kinship
foster care, this report also includes an executive summary and
an annotated bibliography of relevant documents on the topics of
separated refugee children and kinship care.
This month's
featured
search in the BRYCS clearinghouse will lead you to more
resources,
which are mentioned in this report or related to the topic of
separated children.
SPOTLIGHT
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