Refugee Youth Resettlement
http://www.cmy.net.au/RefugeeResettlement
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Overview of issues
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Resources relating to Refugee Youth Resettlement
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Overview of issues
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The resettlement experiences of refugee young people living in Australia are often shaped by many layers of events - from their pre-flight experiences (i.e. where they have come from, including exposure to war and trauma) to their experience of flight, which is frequently dangerous and exposes young people to many physical and psychological hardships. More and more, CMY is finding young people who are settling in Australia have spent prolonged periods of time in second countries and refugee camps, where life is uncertain, physically difficult, and exposes young people yet again to tension and violence.
Resettlement for young refugees in Australia, therefore, is often characterised by many very 'ordinary' adolescent experiences (negotiating family, education, youth culture, etc.) within the context of experiences of great loss and change.
Some over-arching resettlement issues include:
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Settlement support in Australia
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Information provided to refugee young people resettling in Australia is often not communicated in ways that are appropriate to their age, gender, cultural and linguistic background, leading to misunderstandings and confusion. Newly arrived and emerging communities are often at risk due to limited family and social support and community infrastructure, and generalist services are not always culturally appropriate. There are few specialist refugee youth services that cater for those with high and complex needs and there is often little coordination between government departments and community and education sectors.
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Negotiating different value systems and identities
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Young people settling in Australia must adjust to a community with a different value system and there is often pressure placed on young people to adapt. While often resilient, refugee young people are contending with resettlement in an unfamiliar social system, and have to cope with a new language, culture and social expectations, while dealing with the impacts from the refugee experience. They often search for their identity in this new context, and many find this task difficult within the context of adolescent development. Assumptions are often made about young refugees' stages of life, roles within the family and connections to community and religion.
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Connectedness and opportunity
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Many young refugees are geographically and socially isolated and lack opportunities for recreation and other ways to form new friendships. Education and employment issues are often of high importance to refugee young people, many of whom find it hard to find pathways that cater for their needs following disrupted or no previous education before arrival. Those asylum seekers who lack a permanent visa struggle to plan for the future and are unable to begin the process of real resettlement due to their anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Media depictions and events happening in a young persons country of origin can effect resettlement within the community.
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Family relationships
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Family relationships are often of particular significance to refugee young people. Family groupings have often been completely restructured on arrival in Australia due to the death of family members or family re-configuration due to war and migration. Settlement often involves young people finding a new place in the family.
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Unaccompanied minors
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Unaccompanied refugee minors are some of the most vulnerable young people, living without the support of their parents in Australia. Accommodation options for these young people are often unstable and unsuitable. For those who settle with distant relatives, problems often arise due to a lack support for carers, responsibility for household duties or intergenerational conflict, which may prompt young people to leave the family home.
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Resources relating to Refugee Youth Resettlement
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| Settling In: How do refugee young people fair within Australia's settlement system? (148Kb)
| In this article published in 'Migration Action', CMY argues that in supporting young people to 'settle well', it is important the Australian Government is clear about the goals of our settlement program, how it measures and is accountable for good settlement outcomes, and how we, as a community, can create a socially inclusive and cohesive society where refugee young people are able to thrive.
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| | Settling In: Exploring Good Settlement for Refugee Young People in Australia (715Kb)
| In 2005-06, CMY explored the question of 'What is good youth settlement?' through a policy forum and series of consultations with workers and young people. The resulting paper, "Settling In: Exploring Good Settlement for Refugee Young People in Australia", explores definitions of 'good settlement', investigates our current settlement service system and makes a series of recommendations.
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| Good Practice Principles Guide for Working with Refugee Young People (565Kb)
| The Good Practice Principles document was developed by The Victorian Settlement Planning Committee, made up of community organisations and federal, state and local government. The goal of the Guide is to assist services with limited experience in working with refugee young people, and to support consistent and responsive services across Victoria.
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 | Between Two Worlds: The Experiences and Concerns of Immigrant Youth in Ontario (Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement - Toronto)
| Findings of six research projects, amalgamated by the CERIS team into this report, show that language difficulties are one of the most pervasive sources of challenges for these youth in all the spheres of their lives: education, employment, health, and well-being. Moreover, difficulties faced by all adolescents in moving to adulthood become compounded by the immigration experience, and render the youth more vulnerable to outcomes of failure in a number of ways, linked to their age at migration, personal factors, the nature of their uprooting and migration experience, and tensions between them and their families and friends based on challenges posed by cultural differences. These are different across gender, religion and ethno-racial lines, but all can be painful for the youth and seriously impede the successful integration they desire. Facilitating this successful integration are supportive friends, extended family, and community institutions that offer well-designed, appropriate programs; militating against it are discrimination, harassment, and even violence in their communities and its institutions.
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| | Bridging Refugee Youth and Children - Baltimore, USA
| Bridging Refugee Youth and Children (BRYC) is a US technical assistance project working to broaden the scope of information and collaboration among service providers - in order to strengthen services to refugee youth, children and their families. The BRYC website features a Clearinghouse of useful resources, including: "Growing up in a new country: A positive youth development toolkit for working with refugees and immigrants"
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