Changing the Way Nonprofits Prepare: Lessons Learned from Early Resettlement of Rohingya Unaccompanied Refugee Minors

ABSTRACT

The Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, have faced institutionalized discrimination and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Between 2013–2019, a cohort of 152 Rohingya youth were resettled to the US through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) foster care program. The data in this study come from ten focus groups with 23 service providers. The data provide recommendations and best practices in nonprofit management and preparation for the next time the US resettles youth who are part of a cultural/ethnic group that is new to the URM Program. The challenges that foster care programs faced in welcoming Rohingya youth included: difficulty securing interpretation services, obstacles in providing adequate training to staff and foster parents prior to resettlement, and challenges in delivery of mental health services. The results show that service providers suggest future resettlement of new populations: use a geographic cohort model, supplement cultural orientation, and increase alternative mental health programming.

PRACTICE POINTS

• Enhance collaboration between national URM agencies and local service providers, US Department of State Bureau of Populations, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), and other US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) partner organizations to facilitate resettlement of URM youth in cohorts.

• Increase knowledge sharing and cultural orientation for service providers and foster parents so that they feel more prepared to welcome new refugee populations.

• With niche populations, organizations may need to be creative in finding ways to support the language and interpretation needs of their clients such as recruiting through word of mouth, using telephonic resources, or using community members without degrees or certifications.

• Improve pre-departure and post-arrival cultural orientation for refugee youth to set accurate expectations. This could be achieved through collaboration with Resettlement Support Centers, URM programs, and researchers.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation of practices
• advocacy
• program management
• refugee
• Rohingya
• unaccompanied refugee minor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ PRM is responsible for identifying unaccompanied minors overseas who may qualify for resettlement. If a child is approved for refugee status by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), PRM collaborates with USCCB and LIRS to identify an appropriate placement for the child in the URM Program and then executes the resettlement process.

² Biodata refers to biographical data. It includes personal information about the refugee such as date of birth, country of origin, religion, family members, and educational background.

³ BID refers to Best Interest Determination. UNHCR requires that a BID be completed for all unaccompanied children who are considered for resettlement without a parent or legal guardian. This process involves careful consideration of the child’s best interest and results in a formal report that outlines findings and recommendations.

⁴ At the end of the BID, there is the final recommendation of the writer/interviewer and the BID Panel’s decision for placement/resettlement.

⁵ Resettlement Support Centers are funded by the US Department of State to receive and process refugee applications received from UNHCR or other nongovernmental organizations. RSCs collect information from applicants to prepare cases for security screening, interview, and adjudication by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. In addition, RSCs provide support to applicants following the adjudication of their case through their travel date. This includes ensuring that applicants have access to cultural orientation courses.

⁶ IOM is responsible for coordinating travel arrangements for refugees once they have completed the screening and vetting process and have been approved for resettlement in the US. This is done in collaboration with the Resettlement Support Centers.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service & United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.