BRYCS Roundtable
Report Available
The BRYCS program held a Roundtable Discussion on “Enhancing State
Child Welfare Services to Migrating Children” at the 15th National
Conference on Child Abuse & Neglect in Boston, on April 20.
The
Roundtable Report is now available through the
BRYCS Clearinghouse and the
BRYCS
Publications page.
This Roundtable provided an opportunity for regional and state child
welfare representatives to share their challenges and promising
practices for serving refugee children, trafficked children and
undocumented unaccompanied children. BRYCS, LIRS, and USCCB staff
presented information on these populations, including their
eligibility for specialized services through the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR). Speakers included Richard Klarberg, President
and CEO of the Council on Accreditation, and Ilze Earner, Director
of the Immigrant and Child Welfare Project at the Hunter College
School of Social Work. ORR staff joined the discussion by conference
call.
CAL
Publication - Liberians: A Introduction to their
History and Culture
The
Center for Applied Linguistics has published its
cultural profile on Liberians.
Liberians: A Introduction to their History and
Culture has been published to the CAL Web site.
Intended primarily for service providers, there is
information that is useful to other refugee-serving
professionals. The publication offers general
information on Liberian culture, language, and
history and explores the particular experiences of
the latest newcomers.
Other
information and resources about Liberians can be
found in the recently-published BRYCS publication
Liberian Refugees: Cultural Considerations for Social
Service Providers and in the
BRYCS Clearinghouse.
Guardianship Guidelines
One of the most
common requests we receive at BRYCS is for information on
guardianship issues, including state laws (see BRYCS’
Fact Sheets on guardianship at
Guardianship:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
and
Guardianship
FAQ Summary).
Since guardianship laws differ by state, we have embarked
on an effort to gather current information for each state
and house it in one central location.
Guardianship Information by State provides an
overview of guardianship laws with links to state specific
information. This
is an ongoing project, where we will continue to add links
and regular updates.
Immigration
and Language Guidelines for Child Welfare Staff, 2nd Edition
- Now Available in BRYCS
The NYC Administration
for Children’s Services has given BRYCS permission
to offer a PDF of
Immigration and Language Guidelines for Child Welfare Staff,
2nd edition,
in the hopes that in sharing such a publication, other agencies
will use it as a sample to create their own customized resource.
The New
York City (NYC) Administration for Children’s
Services developed this pamphlet to help child
welfare staff understand the different immigration
status’ and the immigration issues that affect
children in child protective services investigations
and who are awaiting foster care placements. A
reference list of sources for help with immigration
and language issues is provided. In addition, the
NYC Administration for Children’s Services Language
Identification Card is included.
New
in the BRYCS Clearinghouse:
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story
of Three Lost Boys from Sudan. "Benjamin,
Alepho, and Benson were raised among the Dinka tribe
of Sudan. Their world was an insulated, close-knit
community of grass-roofed cottages, cattle herders,
and tribal councils. The lions and pythons that
prowled beyond the village fences were the greatest
threat they knew. All that changed the night
the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking
their villages. Amid the chaos, screams,
conflagration, and gunfire, five-year-old Benson and
seven-year-old Benjamin fled into the dark night.
Two years later, Alepho, age seven, was forced to do
the same. Across the Southern Sudan, over the next
five years, thousands of other boys did likewise,
joining this stream of child refugees that became
known as the Lost Boys. Their journey would take
them over one thousand miles across a war-ravaged
country, through landmine-sown paths,
crocodile-infested waters, and grotesque extremes of
hunger, thirst, and disease. The refugee camps they
eventually filtered through offered little respite
from the brutality they were fleeing. In They
Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, Alepho, Benson, and
Benjamin, by turn, recount their experiences along
this unthinkable journey. They vividly recall the
family, friends, and tribal world they left far
behind them and their desperate efforts to keep
track of one another. This is a captivating memoir
of Sudan and a powerful portrait of war as seen
through the eyes of children. And it is, in the end,
an inspiring and unforgettable tribute to the
tenacity of even the youngest human spirits.
Alephonsion and Benson Deng, and their cousin
Benjamin Ajak were relocated from the Kakuma refugee
camp in Kenya to the United States as part of an
international refugee relief program. They arrived
in 2001. Now all in their mid-twenties, Benjamin,
Benson, and Alephonsion live in San Diego,
California." - Publisher's description
COMING
SOON
Next month, BRYCS examines health issues of refugee youth
and children. Also, look for another promising practice
in refugee-serving programs as part of our on-going
special feature and a new publication from BRYCS - a Parenting
Toolkit.
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