Family Reunification Programs Research Articles

“Welfare used to mean darkness – Now it’s beaming with light”: Professionals and parents’ perceptions of a family preservation program in Israel

Few studies have examined the implementation of family preservation and reunification programs. Meeting this gap, a research project examined Israel’s innovative pilot program Families on the Growth Track (FGT). The two-year program was designed to promote the government’s policy of ensuring a permanent and nurturing family for every child by targeting families with difficulties in parental functioning, with children aged 6–18 living in or outside the parental home. The program is informed by existing family preservation models, andits leading paradigm is poverty-aware social work. The present study focused on the perceptions of professionals and participating parents regarding the program. It used semi-structured interviews with four policymakers and eight parents, as well as thirteen professionals. Additional data were collected online from 100 relevant professionals in all welfare departments participating in the pilot. According to the program social workers (PSWs), families suitable for the program were motivated to change and able to benefit from help. The parents were highly satisfied with the availability of the PSW and warm relationship with her, her work on rights take-up, and interservice coordination. They were also satisfied with the flexible budget enabling them to receive tailored wraparound services, combining concrete assistance with psychosocial treatment. Nevertheless, the PSWs experienced their role as more difficult and less rewarding than that of ordinary family social workers, which was given as explanation for their high turnover. Finally, both parents and professionals felt the program’s duration was insufficient. Implications for future research and practice are suggested.

Australia, Indonesia, and East Timorese Family Reunions

Abstract In 2002 East Timor, following over 20 years of Indonesian occupation, became the world’s youngest sovereign state. The violent nature of Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999 led to the displacement of many East Timorese who sought asylum in countries such as Australia and Portugal. This article argues that by trying to seek asylum in Australia, East Timorese refugees complicated Australia’s bipartisan desire to pursue strong diplomatic relations with Indonesia. A hesitancy to recognise East Timorese arrivals as refugees, as a result of these priorities, was reflected through immigration schemes operating in the 1970s and 1980s such as the Family Reunion Program and Special Humanitarian Program. This impacted Australia’s ability to balance its national interests in the Indo-Pacific and its humanitarian obligations, outlined in international legislation such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Refugee Protocol. It also reflected broader diplomatic challenges Australia faced when addressing the situation in East Timor. Exploring this turbulent period in Australian foreign policy through the lens of immigration, this article contributes to research examining the role Australia played in the occupation of East Timor. It also investigates the meanings of dual representations of refugees as both victims and agents within migrant-centered historical accounts.

Using a realist lens to understand the Victorian Family Preservation and Reunification Response in the first year of implementation — Towards a better understanding of practice

Programs for families where children are at risk aim to develop the conditions for safety and care that is rewarding, loving, stable and secure. Understanding what leads to outcomes is less clear, and realist research methods are a useful in unpacking this. The Social Care Theorising Model informed the collection of focus group data from practitioners and team leaders in a family preservation and reunification program being scale up across the state of Victoria in Australia. Demi-regularities (patterns of a program’s function that are reasonably stable) were generated to provide a rapid understanding of practice knowledge to inform data-driven decision making. This study combined the methodology from two studies to balance the need for realist informed findings without time and resource intensive processes of program theory development. Twelve demi-regularities were found which were grouped into three socio-ecological themes of family, organisation and system. At the family level, practitioners described what enabled engagement, readiness, the development of a therapeutic relationship and the need for supported closure. The organisational level suggested the preconditions to engagement, the caseload needed to work intensively, management of staff stress and work needed to operationalise goals. The systems level largely described the essential role of the Child Protection Navigator and how they enable service delivery. This study provides an understanding of what works, for whom, when and why in an innovative family preservation and reunification program.

Using the Adult Exploration of Attachment Interview (AEAI) to Break the Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma: Illustrations from a Family Reunification Program

Family reunification is an area of high policy importance for child protection systems. The safe return of children from out‐of‐home care to their biological parents or relatives and long‐term family preservation can potentially mitigate the subsequent detrimental effects of separating children from their families. In this paper we describe one type of family for whom reunification was considered; namely, families who have been affected by intergenerational trauma. To assist families affected by intergenerational trauma and abuse requires an understanding of the mechanisms and processes that maintain intergenerational trauma and how these might inform therapeutic approaches for working with children and their families. This paper utilises case studies to illustrate the use of the Adult Exploration of Attachment Interview (AEAI) as part of a broader therapeutic reunification program in an Australian state. The AEAI focuses on supporting parents to become aware of the impact of previous experiences in their childhood; the mitigation of feelings of shame, self‐blame, and inadequacy by helping the parent confront the negative experiences of the past. The aim is to assist the parent to recognise the significance of the past, to consolidate their strengths, and to develop more nurturing relationships with their children. Case illustrations demonstrate that this therapy was a component in addressing the causes of behaviour and psychological distress that had been barriers to reunification from care in two families. This was achieved through a process of reflection and self‐awareness, rather than one focused on guilt or shame, with the therapist there to help verbalise and articulate what otherwise might have been hidden or implicit processes. In both cases, this awareness was used to help reframe the parent–child relationship and led to observable behavioural changes in parenting practices.

Portret antropologiczny rdzennych mieszkańców pogranicza polsko-niemieckiego urodzonych przed 1945 rokiem

An Anthropological Portrayal of the Native Inhabitants of the Polish-German Borderland Born Before 1945The article presents the results of field research carried out among the native inhabitants of the Lubusz Voivodship who were born in the former eastern territory of the then German state before 1945. Between 2009 and 2011, the authors conducted in-depth anthropological interviews with 28 informants in 17 localities in the Voivodship. These informants are the last remaining representatives of the former populace in this area, since the majority of the local inhabitants left Poland: some were evacuated or fled in the face of the advancing Red Army in 1945, others were victims of the so-called “wild” expulsions as well as resettlements, and still others emigrated under family reunification programs. One more factor was economic emigration, which has continued up to the present day. Thus, those inhabitants who remained are the last witnesses to the history of life experiences which began here already in pre-World War II times. This makes them special as they have a unique sense of rootedness in the region, unlike other inhabitants, who are newcomers there.The external identity of the interviewees, that is, the identity given to them by others, is often different from their internal, subjective identity, which is felt and expressed in narratives. In the period following World War II the native populace was termed “autochtons”. The category of “autochton” was constructed from the outside, taking into consideration only elements of Polish culture, and completely ignored any ties with German culture. The presence of the “autochtons” officially served the purpose of legitimizing the so-called “recovered territories”, that is, the territories incorporated into Poland in 1945. On the other hand, the autochtons were ascribed a German identity by new settlers who arrived in the Lubusz land from different regions of Poland, and who labeled the locals “Germans” or “Nazis”. The internal identity of the interviewees is characterized by Polish-German cultural bivalence, which shows most of all in their active bilingualism and often in denominational conversions or bivalent (Catholic-Evangelical) faith as well as a lack of a univocal acceptance of just one national option.

Finding the graves: SLED Family Reunification Program

PurposeIn 2015, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed to consolidate data recorded by MoHS and international partners during the Ebola epidemic and create the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED). The primary objectives were helping families to identify the location of graves of their loved ones who died from any cause at the time of the Ebola epidemic and creating a data source for epidemiological research. The Family Reunification Program fulfills the first SLED objective. The purpose of this paper is to describe the Family Reunification Program (Program) development, functioning, and results. MethodsThe MoHS, CDC, SLED Team, and Concern Worldwide developed, tested, and implemented methodology and tools to conduct the Program. Family liaisons were trained in protection of the personally identifiable information. ResultsThe SLED Family Reunification Program allows families in Sierra Leone, who did not know the final resting place of their loved ones, to be reunited with their graves and to bring them relief and closure. ConclusionContinuing family requests in search of the burial place of loved ones 5 years after the end of the epidemic shows that the emotional burden of losing a family member and not knowing the place of burial does not diminish with time. As of February 2021, the Program continues and is described to allow its replication for other emergency events including COVID-19 and new Ebola outbreaks.

Building the Sierra Leone Ebola Database: organization and characteristics of data systematically collected during 2014–2015 Ebola epidemic

PurposeDuring the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and responding partners under the coordination of the National Ebola Response Center (NERC) and the MoHS's Emergency Operation Center (EOC) systematically recorded information from the 117 Call Center system and district alert phone lines, case investigations, laboratory sample testing, clinical management, and safe and dignified burial records. Since 2017, CDC assisted MoHS in building and managing the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED) to consolidate these major data sources. The primary objectives of the project were helping families to identify the location of graves of their loved ones who died at the time of the Ebola epidemic through the SLED Family Reunification Program and creating a data source for epidemiological research. The objective of this paper is to describe the process of consolidating epidemic records into a useful and accessible data collection and to summarize data characteristics, strength, and limitations of this unique information source for public health research. MethodsBecause of the unprecedented conditions during the epidemic, most of the records collected from responding organizations required extensive processing before they could be used as a data source for research or the humanitarian purpose of locating burial sites. This process required understanding how the data were collected and used during the outbreak. To manage the complexity of processing the data obtained from various sources, the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED) Team used an organizational strategy that allowed tracking of the data provenance and lifecycle. ResultsThe SLED project brought raw data into one consolidated data collection. It provides researchers with secure and ethical access to the SLED data and serves as a basis for the research capacity building in Sierra Leone. The SLED Family Reunification Program allowed Sierra Leonean families to identify location of the graves of loved ones who died during the Ebola epidemic. ConclusionsThe SLED project consolidated and utilized epidemic data recorded during the Sierra Leone Ebola Virus Disease outbreak that were collected and contributed to SLED by national and international organizations. This project has provided a foundation for developing a method of ethical and secure SLED data access while preserving the host nation's data ownership. SLED serves as a data source for the SLED Family Reunification Program and for epidemiological research. It presents an opportunity for building research capacity in Sierra Leone and provides a foundation for developing a relational database. Large outbreak data systems such as SLED provide a unique opportunity for researchers to improve responses to epidemics and indicate the need to include data management preparedness in the plans for emergency response.

Implementation and Evaluation of the FUERTE (Family Reunification and Resiliency Training) Program for Recently-Immigrated Latino Adolescents

Background Thousands of children attempt to emigrate to the U.S. each year from Latin America. Many have experienced significant trauma, and the process of reunification with families after prolonged separation is a known stressor. School-based group therapy has the potential to connect this vulnerable population with mental health resources. Through a collaboration with school-based caregivers, therapists, and pediatricians, a five-module curriculum for recently immigrated youth called FUERTE (Family Reunification and Resiliency Training) was created. After refining FUERTE’s modules using stakeholder focus groups, the program was successfully piloted across schools city-wide …

Intervention I: Neighbors: Familiar Strangers: The Case of Somali Immigrants in Lewiston, Maine

Intervention I: Neighbors: Familiar Strangers: The Case of Somali Immigrants in Lewiston, Maine Andrea Voyer According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), two and a half decades of sectarian strife in Somalia displaced millions of people. In January 2009, it was estimated that nearly 1.3 million Somalis remained within country as they fled their homes, and nearly 600,000 individuals sought refuge outside of Somalia (UNHCR ). Then, as today, most members of this substantial Somali Diaspora resided in neighboring countries. However, Somalis are dispersed over many nations (Abdi ). Immigration statistics suggest that—with settlement beginning in the 1980s and continuing until the Trump administration's recent travel ban that barred U.S. visas to all Somali passport holders—there are now more than 135,000 Somali residents in the United States (United States Census Bureau ). In 2008, more than half of all newcomers to the United States settled in just four states: California, New York, Florida, and Texas. Yet, Somalis in the United States often reside in areas with little history of recent non‐white immigration where they make up a substantial proportion of the immigrant community. Seeking out these new immigrant gateways, Somalis in the United States pass over traditional urban areas and immigration centers for states such as Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, Tennessee, and Maine. Six of the top 10 states of Somali settlement are not primary settlement sites for the majority of other legal permanent residents. Somalis also tend to reside in communities where there are no other immigrant groups to speak of. The nature of Somali settlement is bound to be different in smaller communities in which being an immigrant means being Somali. Waters and Jimenez () suggest several ways in which new gateways might impact immigrants’ experiences: more freedom for immigrants to define their place in the social structure; un‐ and under‐developed immigration services; and less social isolation. Seeking refuge in Lewiston Should we think of Somali Americans as refugees or as immigrants? While many Somalis do arrive as refugees, others come through family reunification programs. Still others immigrated to the United States in the years before Somalia's chaos. Many Somali residents of the United States are American‐born, members of the growing second generation. Furthermore, Somalis have moved within the United States—leaving behind the refugee resettlement services they were provided in their community of arrival and starting businesses, acquiring American educational credentials, jobs, citizenship, and buying houses as they do so. The official designation of refugee states obscures the fact that many Somalis have actively made successful lives for themselves in the United States. One place many Somalis have called home is the town of Lewiston, Maine. Between the summer of 2001 and October 2002, more than 1,200 Somali immigrants relocated to the town of Lewiston. Lewiston had no Somali population before that time. Lewiston's Somali population is around 4000 today, giving the city of 37,000 the highest per capita concentration of Somalis in the United States. They arrived in the city as secondary migrants—refugees from Somalia who have been in the United States for at least 2 years and are relocating within the country of their own volition and without any special services or supports provided in their initial settlement site. The reasons for Somali migration to Lewiston include the low cost of living and crime rate in Maine, a desire on the part of the Muslim Somalis to live in a community which is tolerant of religious diversity, an appreciation of the lack of racial conflict in the state, Maine's good schools, generous welfare benefits, and, as time passes, the presence of a substantial Somali community. An un‐neighborly welcome Lewiston's response to Somali settlement exposes many of the questions and challenges faced by communities where neighbors suddenly seem to become strangers from elsewhere. In the case of Lewiston, Somali settlement initially resulted in exclusion and hostility. In April 2002, the regional paper, The Portland Press Herald, published an article about what the author referred to as “Lewiston's Somali surge.” The article discussed Lewiston's new Somali residents and their progress toward settling in the community. Somali...

The Study Area

The Study Area

Unfulfilled Promise: Palestinian Family Reunification and the Right of Return

This article argues that Israel substituted the Palestinian refugees' internationally recognized right of return with a family reunification program during its maneuvering over admission at the United Nations following the creation of the state in May 1948. Israel was granted UN membership in 1949 on the understanding that it would have to comply with legal international requirements to ensure the return of a substantial number of the 750,000 Palestinians dispossessed in the process of establishing the Zionist state, as well as citizenship there as a successor state. However, once the coveted UN membership had been obtained, and armistice agreements signed with neighboring countries, Israel parlayed this commitment into the much vaguer family reunification program, which it proceeded to apply with Kafkaesque absurdity over the next fifty years. As a result, Palestinians made refugees first in 1948, and later in 1967, continue to be deprived of their legally recognized right to return to their homes and their homeland, and the family reunification program remains the unfulfilled promise of the early years of Israeli statehood.

DISSECTING NETWORK EXTERNALITIES IN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

Abstract:Migrant networks play an important role in explaining the size and structure of migration flows. They affect the private costs and benefits of migration (assimilation channel) and lower legal entry barriers through family reunification programs (policy channel). This paper presents a micro-founded identification strategy allowing to disentangle the relative importance of these two channels. Our empirical analysis exploits US immigration data by metropolitan area and country of origin. We first find that the elasticity of migration flows to network size is around one. More interestingly, we show that the policy channel accounted at most for a quarter of this elasticity in the 1990s, and the magnitudes of the total network effect and the policy channel are greater for low-skilled migrants. Our results are strongly robust to sample selection, identification assumptions, and treatment for unobserved bilateral heterogeneity. Furthermore, the policy channel was stronger in the 1990s than in the 1980s, possibly reflecting the changes in the US family reunification policies. We conclude that the government capacity to curb the migration multiplier exists, but is limited.

Hope as a Crucial Factor in Integration Among Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in the USA: A Pilot Project

In 2014, 53,518 unaccompanied immigrant youth, predominantly from Central America, arrived in the USA. By mid-2015, over 12,000 had already arrived (Office of Refugee Resettlement 2015). Despite experiencing a myriad of risk factors and challenges, these children display remarkable resiliency. An important component of this resiliency which, in turn, enhances the well-being of these populations, is the maintenance of hope. This paper reports on a study conducted in spring 2013 on the presence of hope among 138 unaccompanied immigrant children, ages 9–18, receiving services from 20 affiliates of a family reunification program in 12 states in the USA. The study found that children reported a high level of hope on the Children’s Hope Scale (Snyder et al., New York Free Press 1994; Psychological Inquiry 13(4):249, 2002). This article reports on these findings and discusses their implications for policy, practice, and research.

Cost analysis of the strengthening families program in reducing time to family reunification among substance-affected families

Decision makers typically face uncertainty in determining whether the outcomes of promising child welfare interventions justify the investment. Despite repeated calls for cost analysis in child welfare, original studies that evaluate the costs and effects of child welfare programs have been limited. Moreover, no cost analyses have focused on family reunification programs that address the needs of substance-affected families. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the costs and effects of a federally funded implementation of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), a 14-week family training curriculum, on time to reunification with a substance-involved child welfare population. Based on event history analysis, we find the typical child participating in SFP spends 190 fewer days in out of home care when compared to a propensity score matched comparison group of children in out-of home care receiving treatment as usual. Re-entry rates between the two groups were not significantly different at follow-up. At an average out-of-home care rate of $86 per child per day in this state, SFP saves approximately $16,340 per participating child in out-of-home care costs. From a cost–benefit perspective, every $1 invested in SFP yields an average savings of $9.83 in this Midwestern demonstration. ► Cost analyses of child welfare interventions have been limited. ► Few studies have evaluated reunification programs with substance-affected families. ► The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) was evaluated in a child welfare setting. ► SFP decreases days in out-of-home care among children in substance-involved families. ► Every $1 invested in SFP yields an average savings of $9.83 in this demonstration.

Moving the Virtual Border to the Cellular Level: Mandatory DNA Testing and the U.S. Refugee Family Reunification Program

Moving the Virtual Border to the Cellular Level: Mandatory DNA Testing and the U.S. Refugee Family Reunification Program

Gender-Responsive Programs in U.S. Prisons: Implications for Change

This research examines the need for programs that focus on mental health issues, parenting issues, and other unique needs of female offenders incarcerated throughout the United States. The Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that 84% of female offenders were living with their children prior to their arrest. This constitutes a crisis in our society today, which is manifest in overcrowded state and federal prisons, increased caseloads for the Department of Children and Family Services, the Foster Care System, and families of the offenders. The goal of this research is to determine what types of gender-responsive programs are effective in reducing recidivism. The methods used were qualitative data analysis, by comparing which programs are offered, either within the prison, or as a reentry postrelease program. A survey was used and interview data were analyzed by identifying and comparing common themes and patterns. The findings reveal the most effective gender-responsive programs are those that incorporate substance abuse treatment, education and job preparedness, parenting programs where contact with children is allowed and/or encouraged, and family reunification programs.

Dissecting Network Externalities in International Migration

Existing migrant networks play an important role in explaining the size and structure of immigration flows. They affect the net benefits of migration by reduc- ing assimilation costs (’self-selection channel’) and by lowering legal entry barriers through family reunification programs (’immigration policy channel’). This paper presents an identification strategy allowing to disentangle the relative importance of these two channels. Then, it provides an empirical analysis based on US immi- gration data by metropolitan area and country of origin. First, we show that the overall network externality is strong: the elasticity of migration flows to network size is around one. Second, only a quarter of this elasticity is accounted for by the policy channel. Third, the policy channel was stronger in the 1990s than in the 1980s as the family reunification programs became more effective with growing diasporas. Fourth, the overall diaspora effect and the policy channel are more important for low-skilled migrants.

Developing Strong Helping Alliances in Family Reunification

The development of positive working relationships with clients has been a hallmark of the social work profession since its inception. More recently there has been a resurgence of interest in both measuring the dimensions of the working relationships and the processes through which these relationships are formed. This article reports findings on working relationships from a comprehensive evaluation of a family reunification program that used multiple approaches to study these relationships. These overlapping findings are discussed in the context of program elements that fostered engagement and the maintenance of positive working relationships between clients and staff.

Qualitative Inquiry and Family Therapist Identity Construction Through Community-Based Child Welfare Practice

The Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) field has discussed how to emphasize broader sociological contexts in family therapy practices (Hardy, 2001; Johnson, 2001; Sluzki, 2001) and education (McDowell & Shelton, 2002). As a way to bridge perceived fragmentation between MFT education and intensive clinical practice within larger sociological contexts, this article describes our experiences as five MFT therapist-interns and one clinical faculty (practicing as both therapist and supervisor) facilitating the Families in Transition (FIT) program, a community-based family reunification program offered through an accredited MFT training clinic. Qualitative action research methods (Greenwood & Levin, 2005) synthesizing feminist autoethnography (Allen & Piercy, 2005; Holman-Jones, 2005; Richardson & St. Pierre, 2005) were used to present an illustration of our struggle of knowing how to act as MFTs in the real-world context of child welfare.

Reentry of elementary aged children following reunification from foster care

A recognized goal of family reunification programs is preventing the reentry of children into foster care. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this study examined reentry for 273 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. In multivariate models, reentry into foster care was associated with higher Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores and higher numbers of children in the household when the child is living at home. Although these are not the only risk factors that should be considered in deciding whether to reunify a child, these characteristics appear to be high valence problems for families and their children who are reunified. Future research on reentry and on placement disruptions from foster care should routinely include information about the number of children in the family and behavior problems when endeavoring to explain caseload dynamics.