Influx of Refugees: State Challenges and Opportunities
January, 2020
Authors: Kristina McGuire & Sandra Donnay
Contributors: Abigail Akande, Lisseth Roja-Flores, Kelli Hughes & Kee Straits
Refugees face structural and cultural barriers associated with higher physical and mental health disparities, poverty, and uncertainty about their rights and legal status.
Challenges
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Community members may not have access to accurate and up to date policy-related information (e.g., misconception on the permanent resident or citizenship process).
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Refugee uncertainty about healthcare benefit qualification (e.g., Federal reductions in Affordable Care Act outreach).
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Refugee reluctance/avoidance of benefit programs for mental and physical health care (e.g., fear of deportation, cultural misunderstandings, service systems biases).
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K-12 personnel may not recognize trauma symptoms in refugee children.
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Lack of cultural competency in organizations serving refugees (e.g. mental and physical health, schools).
Possible Responses
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Disseminating accurate and objective information by investing in collaborative, multi-agency and community- based partnerships interacting with refugee families (e.g., faith based groups, grassroots, schools, other immigrant service organizations).
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Providing accurate (multilingual) information using reputable social media sources such as those associated with professional organizations, subject matter experts, and certain celebrities.
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Expanding State healthcare multilingual outreach as Federal healthcare outreach declines,
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Ensuring refugee mental and physical care outreach includes “no threat of deportation” status communication.
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Use Trauma Informed Care (TIC) approaches to recognize and treat trauma in refugee children. For example,
recognizing the signs of trauma and mental illness.
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Enforcing culturally conscious services for refugees. Some examples may include: Promoting cultural
competency training in schools, community agencies, tailoring culturally responsive mental health services, and
requiring cultural competency training in higher education curriculum.
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Cultural conscious programming also includes cultural humility, country of origin political/social climate
awareness, developmental, gender, and language needs.
Key Resources
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Refugee and asylum policy by The Migration Policy Institute
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What immigrants and refugees need to know about the Affordable Care Act by SAMHSA
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Guidelines on trauma informed care for immigrant children by The National Research Center for Children and Families
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Data on the impact of State benefits for immigrant children by The National Center for Children in Poverty
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Resources to engage immigrants in physical and mental health care by The Children’s Partnership - California Immigrant Policy Center