The public health issue of concern is traumatic experiences specific to immigrant and refugee children under the age of seventeen, that negatively affect the neurology and development of these children. The target population for this analysis is immigrant children, specifically non-white immigrants and international refugees within the low socioeconomic realm. In 2016 alone, fifty million children were migrated or forcibly displaced (Wood, 2018). Yet, there is no existing literature on the number of children that are held in detention centers worldwide, this is concerning as these centers are often culprits of violating human rights, practicing abuse, and child maltreatment (Wood, 2018). Traumatic experiences include forced separation in child detention centers, relocation, reestablishment, exposure to physical, mental, and emotional abuse at different sociological levels.
Mission - Advocating for immigrant and refugee children by providing a platform for their specific traumas and barriers to be the focal point of an intervention that addresses resilience-building at different sociological levels
Vision - Move towards establishing sustainable resilience building programs and expanding to more vulnerable populations
Values - Community Collaboration/ Ongoing Advocacy/ Community Empowerment / Safe-space
At the individual level, it was identified that there are immigrant-specific trauma stressors that severely influence physiological mechanisms and brain development (Mancini, 2020). To address this trauma from the root, individual counseling will take place with professionals who are trained in cultural competence and take a cognitive-behavioral approach to assess children’s well-being. Specific stories and experiences will be confidential yet general themes will be extracted to formulate a tailored mentorship program for these children. Three one-on-one sessions will be required in a span of a month. Prior to the commencement of sessions guardian will sign consent form to abide by the Belmont Report
At the interpersonal level, a mentorship program will be established by matching the children to graduate students in the fields of immigration law, social work, public health, child development, and medicine among other related fields. Mentors will go through a screening process to ensure safety of children and must also identify as foreign-born immigrants or international refugees. Selected mentors will then be trained prior to pairing to aid children in themes that were identified through individual counseling. Training will include material on child-centered mentorship, cultural competence, trauma-informed coaching, and resilience-building techniques. The mentor’s general goal is to bring awareness to immigrant-specific trauma, highlight the importance of resilience, and guide children towards developing self-coping mechanisms. All supplies needed to complete intervention will be provided to families: transportation and technological devices.
Two panels events will take place with inter-spaced in between the duration of three months of the interpersonal-level mentorship program. The purpose of these social events it to recruit stakeholders and involve parents and providers while promoting community cohesion. Additionally, the goal is to orient involved stakeholders to community town hall and discuss prevalent findings from resilience building intervention.
At the community level town hall meetings will take place twice in a span of a month and their function is to address lack of awareness in the community or misconceptions, target discrimination, find ways to buffer economic disadvantage of these populations, and identify gaps is the macro systems that proliferate disparities.
At the societal level, task force is responsible for meeting and collaborating with state and local officials to write legislation to foster longevity of this program and expansion through financial support and networking.
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