CAPSTONE ESSAY

Abigail Garza
Mrs. Sherman
9 December, 2015
Pd. 1

The impact of refugee resettlement on the

mental health and development of child
refugees.

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During Abigails senior year she was given the opportunity to be an

intern at Catholic Charities' St. Frances Cabrini Center for Immigration Legal
Assistance. She has worked alongside an attorney who works with refugees,
specifically families, children, and asylees, who wish to gain residency or
citizenship in the United States. Throughout the months of being at her
internship she has seen multiple cases where parents have had to leave their
children back in their home country while they attempt to start a better life
in the United States. Abigail has decided to study the impact of refugee
resettlement on the mental health and development of child refugees. She
has chosen this topic specifically because the majority of the time the
individuals are uprooting their families and children from their home country
and the majority of them are fairly young.
As Abigail spent more and more time with clients that were refugees
she was able to see how resettling in a new country affected them and their
families. She was able to talk to them or listen in on meetings that her
mentor had with clients, with his permission of course as that would be an
invasion of privacy otherwise. Abigail plans to interview three clients of her
mentor to speak to them and their children about how resettling into the
United States has effected them psychologically and maybe even physically.
She has also been given the opportunity to interview her mentor to speak
about his experiences with child refugees and how he has been able to see
the effects it has on these children. There will be 4 interviews, two which
shall be my mentor and an employee of his that works with resettling

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refugee families. The other two shall be two child refugees, whom are now
adults, but still vividly remember their resettlement into the United States
from El Salvador. Following the interviews secondary data and sources will be
reviewed initially through using a range of informational sources such as
academic and commercial abstracts, bibliographic databases, and Internet
search engines.
In her research Abigail came across of an abundance of sources that
she was able to use for this essay. To her surprise multiple doctors and
psychologists had already conducted research on how being a child refugee
effects their psychological well-being and physical development. Along with
researchers who have studied the effects, Abigail was able to find journals
and interviews of actual child refugees telling their experiences in their home
country as well as in the United States and how the resettlement had
effected them. Her interviews with child refugees gave her first hand
experiences and stories. Primarily Abigail focused on looking for research
that focused on child refugees resettling in the United States starting in
1980s to the present time, mainly to research the different refugees, where
their home country was, and what war or civil conflicts were happening in
their home country to lead them to look for asylum in the United States.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act conforms to the
1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, Article I, in defining a refugee as
a person who is outside his or her country of nationality or habitual
residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his or her race,

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religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political

opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection
of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution. According to the
United Nations High commission for Refugees by the end of 2008 there was
an estimated 15.2 million refugees and 827,000 asylum-seekers globally,
44% of whom were children under age 18. (Porterfield) A few major events
that lead familys to flee their country include events of war and conflict in
the victims home country which they were more than likely exposed to
chronic persecution, physical and psychological violence, trauma,
dislocation, and a collapse of social infrastructure. Trauma is shown
differently among different age groups. (Birman) Trauma reactions in children
that are in preschool include suffering from separation anxiety, possible loss
of milestones, such as learning how to speak or use the restroom,
deregulated sleep schedule, or aggressive play. Trauma reactions
progressively get a little bit worse in school age children and adolescents. For
school age children trauma reactions that are often expressed are irritability
or anxiety, aggression or misconduct, lack of concentration, lack of sleep,
stomach pains, fear of events that led them to be refugees occurring again,
emergence of phobias, and reoccurring nightmares. The trauma reactions
shown in adolescents are far bit worse than the two younger age groups.
They include outbursts of anger or feelings of revenge, aggression or
misconduct, detachment, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, or flashbacks,
feelings of guilt, depression, disillusionment with adults or authority. (Bjrn)

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Along with the factors mentioned other specific factors that influence the
psychological adjustment of children affects by armed conflict that leads
them to flee their home country include development, individual
temperament, gender, race and ethnicity, acculturation, resilience, language
acquisition, and last but not least disabilities and medical needs. An obvious
factor that is affected is development. An environment of violence interferes
with childrens abilities to interact with other children as well as engaging in
age appropriate tasks and having the ability to master them. Its important
to understand the complexities of the needs children who experience war
especially with varying expectations, norms, and values within cultures and
communities, in their home country and in the country they have resettled
in. Individual temperament is directly related to how children adjust to
trauma and personality characteristics that include their creativity,
intelligence, and curiosity. Gender plays a part in the factors affected in
childrens development. Unfortunately, women and girls are more likely to be
exposed to sexual abuse when in areas of war. Boys are exposed to violence,
like shootings, during war and are often in the conflict themselves as child
soldiers. Not many studies have been shown the effects of what war and
being a child refugee has on children who are gay, lesbian, or transgender.
Often times child refugees are exposed to being racially discriminated in the
countrys they have resettled in. Being racially discriminated can lead the
children to resent their country of origin or culture, it often makes it harder
for them to adapt to their new country because of the conflict of two

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different cultures. The rates at which they culturally adapt, which means
deciding which languages to speak, their ethnic identity, and the amount of
cultural activities they decide to participate in, is solely up to the childs
familys. However, there are different ways to approach child refugees who
have been exposed to traumatic stress involved before and after they have
resettled into their new countries. There are studies that show the
effectiveness of how a child dealing with these stressors one on one with a
practitioner, the study includes that their technique is not important, helps
build the childs high degree of empathy, tolerance for strong emotions, and
gives the practitioner the ability to confront the children if necessary.
Although the first study mentioned includes that the technique which the
practitioner uses is not important, it is mentioned in another study that
cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown to be most effective in a positive
manner. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy where
negative patterns of thought about the child, in this case, and the world are
challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns or treat mood
disorders, such as depression. The therapy is effective because it is often
times the best way to dress the childs fear, helplessness, and anxiety.
However, when helping child refugees who have obviously been resettled
into a new country with completely different cultural norms that they have
therapies, like cognitive-behavior therapy, need to be used sensitively.
Depending on the childs country of origin their cultural group vary in the
way that they view distress, healing, and psychological well-being. Often

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times the children did not experience the traumatic events alone, they are
normally with family members who have also lived through the same war.
The children and family members have different ways of remembering,
processing, and dealing with the events. When families have interventions to
talk about their traumatic stressors or to target bettering the emotional
functioning of the children as a whole it is important to address the familys
shared experiences and their different perspectives on the war. Depending
on where the child refugees have resettled, most schools now have
resources available to them and it is quite crucial for them to utilize all the
resources that they have available. Schools can make them feel welcomed in
contrast to the way that they have had to up and leave their country of
origin. If the child has yet to see a practitioner since coming to their new
country, school officials, such as nurses, teachers, counselors, or
administrators could be essential in noticing any mental health need that
child refugee may need before the problem develops or worsens. If available,
school psychologists will often times give the child effective ways to handle
their stress and provide support and guidance as the child may be facing
issues of acculturation. Schools could also provide treatments such as
expressive treatment where they could create art work to express their
stressors and feelings. (APA) This could be effective when there are cultural
barriers that the child refugee may face when resettling into not only a new
country, but a new culture and setting in school. This could also be helpful
for the refugee families when they happen to come across mental health

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interventions that are only available in traditional clinical settings. As

mentioned before its important to keep in mind the childs cultural and
ethnic background when dealing with any kind of healing process, whether it
be mentally or physically, because of the fact that every culture goes
through healing processes in different ways. However, there is little research
to show that this method of intervention is completely effective, but any kind
of group work or creative outlets could always be helpful. Creating a sort of
group intervention is helpful with child refugees as it gives them a sense of
belonging and creates a connection, rather than alienation which could have
been created by war. (Srinivasa)
Through an interview with one refugee Abigail was able to learn how a
civil war in El Salvador that took place over a timespan of nearly 10 years,
from 1980 to 1992, affected a childs life forever. In the words of a child
refugee, Reyes, It changed my life completely. I didnt want to leave my
home country. Reyes goes on to explain how hearing about wars triggers
memories and emotions of what she went through as a child and prefers to
not hear about it. Although she mentions how leaving her home country
brought her a sense of relief because she was able to get away from war.
Reyes tells an emotional story of how a family member of hers was actually
kidnapped to be a child soldier and to this day they have never seen or
heard of him ever again. As mentioned in the previous paragraph family
interventions could be helpful, however for Reyes her family never spoke of it
after she got to the Unites States at age 11. Although she mentions that if

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she were given the opportunity to go back and talk about her experiences of
being a child refugee with her family would. She mentions that there was no
sort of help from teachers or school officials in her transition over to the
United States while in school. Reyes felt direct discrimination from teachers
that would constantly tell her and other students in her ESL class, go back
to your country. They were no help. As mentioned in the previous paragraph
getting help from school officials and teachers is crucial when transitioning
into the United States. It gives refugee children a sense of feeling as if they
belong. In a legal perspective, refugee children
The opportunity Abigail had as an intern working with refugee children
has given her different perspectives in politics and in culture as well.
Unfortunately, not many studies have been shown the effects of what war
and being a child refugee has on children who are gay, lesbian, or
transgender. As of right now studies have solely focused on the mental
health of just female and male children without taking their sexual
orientation, which could affect how that child resettles into their new country.
Although, this entire essay focuses on the negative affects resettling into a
new country has on the mental health of children, the positive affects need
to be shown as well. The sole purpose for these children and family leaving
their home countries is to get away from fear of persecution because of his
or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the
protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution. The

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mental damage being a refugee has comes from the traumatic events which
lead to them leaving their home country. In times of need these children
along with their families should be able to rely on the neighboring countries
to be able to flee there for refuge. However, in the light of the recent terrorist
attacks on Paris coming from Isis tension is rising even higher for the natives
of Syria as they attempt to flee their country. However, as of November 31
United States governors have opposed to accepting Syrian refugees and
since 2011 only 1,500 Syrian refugees have been allowed into the United
States. Unfortunately, many other countries and states are refusing to house
them as refugees, which is leading these children and families to look for
other methods to get to neighboring countries. There have been multiple
stories of families attempting to get to neighboring countries by taking small
boats through rigorous parts of the ocean and ultimately end up drowning,
because of the dangerous conditions these waters were in.
In the time of writing this essay and spending time at Catholic
Charites, Abigail was able to get one on one time with refugee families and
educating herself in their culture as well as the effects resetting has had on
all of them. Abigail has learned skills on how to work with these families,
mainly the children. These children are still people, regardless of where they
originated from and regardless of their mental health. They deserve to be
heard and given any sort of psychological or counseling aid, as they have
been through programs offered at places like Catholic Charities. Abigail
plans on majoring in something having to do with international affairs or

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international law, so being given the opportunity to work with refugees and
being exposed to different cultures, it has educated Abigail immensely.
Abigail was able to learn that helping people, specifically refugee families
and children, is what she wants to do for her life-long career. Abigail hopes to
major in international human rights law and earn a minor in psychology, so
that she could hopefully get a job in an organization like Catholic Charites to
work with refugees and the resettlement process.

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Works Cited
American Psychological Association (APA). WORKING WITH REFUGEE
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES:
Update for Mental Health Professionals. n.p.: 2009 APA Task Force on
the Psychosocial
Effects of War on Children and Families Who Are Refugees From Armed
Conflict
Residing in the United States, 2009. Print.
Birman, Dina, Joyce Ho, Emily Pulley, Karen Batia, Mary Lynn Everson, Heidi
Ellis, Theresa S.
Betancourt, and Angela Gonzalez. Mental Health Interventions for
Refugee Children in
Resettlement. Los Angeles: National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Refugee Trauma Task Force, 2005. Print.
Bjrn, Gunilla Jarkman. Refugee Children and Families: Psychological Health,
Brief Family
Intervention and Ethical Aspects. Linkping, Sweden: n.p., 2013. Print.
Porterfield, Katherine, Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, Molly A, Benson, Theresa
Betancourt, Heidi
Ellis, Maryam Kia-Keating, and Kenneth Miller. Review of Child and
Adolescent Refugee
Mental Health. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2010.
Print.
Srinivasa Murthy, R., and Rashmi Lakshminarayana. Mental Health
Consequences of War: A

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Brief Review of Research Findings (2006): n.p. World Psychiatry. Web.

18 Nov. 2015.
Thomas, Trang, and Winnie Lau. "Psychological Well Being of Child and
Adolescent Refugee and
Asylum Seekers." Australian Human Rights Commission. N.p., 11 June
2002. Web. 16
Nov. 2015.