1. Refugee Resettlement in Idaho

2. Who is a Refugee?

3. Refugee
The term refugee means any person who is outside any country of such persons nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to…that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion… The term refugee does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
--The US Refugee Act of 1980

4. Global Overview
Source: UNHCR

5. Where do they come from?
The top five countries of origin for refugees resettled in Idaho in 2017:
Democratic Republic of Congo
Bhutan
Iraq
Syria
Afghanistan
Other groups resettled here include
Various African countries: Burundi, Togo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan and Cameroon
Colombians
Cubans
Burmese/Karen

6. Process Overview

7. Who Funds the USRP?

8. Who Decides who comes to Idaho?
Ongoing
Quarterly Community Consultation
Dialogue with National Offices, State Department
Language, community capacity, employment, medical issues, etc.
Ultimately we want our clients to succeed!

9. Refugee Service Providers in Idaho
Agency for New Americans (ANA)
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Idaho Office for Refugees (IOR)
English Language Center (ELC)
CSI Refugee Center (CSI)

10. Impact of Recent Changes to the USRP on Arrivals

11. Resettlement Agency Role
Resettlement Agencies are charged with the basic services that help newly arrived refugees get on their feet:
Case Management
Employment
Immigration Services
Orientation/education
Connect with appropriate resources
Temporary cash assistance
Social integration

12. Refugee Trauma
An Overview of refugee traumatic backgrounds, impacts of trauma, things to think about for students…

13. Trauma: Key aspects
Experiencing a threat (and/or injury) to bodily/psychological/spiritual and existential integrity
Witnessing threat/injury of another person (physical, psychological, spiritual, existential)
Learning of threat/injury of another person (e.g., hearing the story)
Feelings of horror, shock
Feeling overwhelmed (physically, psychologically, spiritually)
Feeling profoundly disconnected
Disconnection of body and mind
Disconnection from others
Disconnection existentially/spiritually (e.g., disconnected from the world, the universe, from the divine)
Feeling helpless and a profound loss of control
Profound disempowerment
Shatters a sense of meaning and trust in the world/universe
Impacts the body, brain, and nervous system

14. Triple Trauma Paradigm (National Partnership for Community Training)
Pre-Flight
Torture and/or trauma experience in home country
Flight
Seeking safety; escape and exile; living in refugee camp or host country
Post-Flight
Resettlement and acculturation in new country

15. Triple Trauma Paradigm: Post-Flight
Resettlement and Acculturation in New Country
Failure of resettlement/life in new country to meet expectations
Loss of socio-economic status/loss of former lifestyle
Economic struggles
Limited social support/loss of social support network
Stress of adapting to a new culture

16. Impacts of Trauma – Children
Common manifestations of trauma among refugee children
Irritability
Defiant behavior
Hyperactivity
Difficulty paying attention, difficulty with concentration
Conflicts with peers, aggression
Sleep problems
Emotionally sensitive, crying a lot
Socially isolated and withdrawn from other children
“clingy,” “needy,” behavior
Difficulty learning/retaining new information at school
Loss of achieved developmental milestones

17. Resettlement Stress: Impact on Family System & Children
“Acculturation Gap”
Child plays role of interpreter & cultural broker
Parent-child conflict & unhealthy family dynamics
School
Difficulty “catching up” academically
Social issues with peers
Pressure from parents to succeed academically
Dual cultural identity development

18. Strengths-Based Approach
Identify refugees’ strengths.
Consider refugees’ strengths from their lives (and functioning) pre-flight
Acknowledge refugees’ strengths as survivors
Work from refugees’ strengths, in order to help them to find solutions to challenges or barriers.

19. Concerns? Questions?

20. Interested in learning more about refugee resettlement?
Idaho Office for Refugees
Department of State/PRM
Office of Refugee Resettlement
BRYCS
Cultural Orientation

21. Some Facts to Consider
~65 million “displaced persons” in the world! (half are children!)
Out of the nearly 20 million refugees in the world, less than 1 percent are considered for resettlement worldwide. 
The U.S. is just one of 28 resettlement countries.
The vetting process is long and intense
Is there a link between refugees and U. S. crime rates?
Yes, 9 out of 10 U. S. cities surveyed become considerably more safe.
No fatal terrorist attacks in the U. S commited by refugee
View in Slide Show to click on links….

22. Consider this also…
The five wealthiest countries [the U.S., China, Japan, the U.K. and Germany]— which make up half the global economy — are hosting less than 5 per cent of the world’s refugees, while 86 per cent of refugees are in poorer developing countries that are often struggling to meet the needs of their own people.

23. Conflict: Current Refugee Crisis

24. Do refugees themselves consider Boise “welcoming”. In what ways
Do refugees themselves consider Boise “welcoming”? In what ways? Where could we improve?