BRYCS promotes a positive youth development approach to refugee youth services, emphasizing the inherent strengths and resilience refugee youth bring to the resettlement and acculturation process.
As stated eloquently by one teenager, refugee and immigrant youth are “blessed with the difficult task” of developing their identity while also integrating two cultures. As this quote suggests, refugee youth face challenges, but they are equipped with the assets of two cultures to help make the inevitable transition from youth to adulthood.
Common developmental tasks for refugee youth—such as balancing the expectations of two cultures, handling simultaneous work and educational responsibilities, dealing with interrupted schooling, survivor guilt, or separation from family members—are dealt with against a backdrop of beneficial strengths and protective factors that typically accompany the migration experience—family attachment, community resources and supportive relationships, ethnic and religious identity, perseverance through adversity, educational appreciation, bicultural social skills and multilingual ability.
Some refugee parents and youth may experience greater intergenerational tension during the teenage years and can benefit from services that offer teens productive activities and a sense of belonging while strengthening the parent-child bond.
Youth Development Resources
Promising Practices
Promising Practices
Get new ideas, share your promising practice, and read about other refugee-serving programs across the country!
Youth Interviews
Youth Interviews
See BRYCS Youth Interviews to read about the experiences of refugee teenagers in their own words.
Youth Development Blog
Blessed with a Difficult Task: Refugee Youth and the Transition to Adulthood
It’s bad enough for teenagers to just find out who they are living in one culture, but I have been blessed with the difficult task [...]
Promising Practices in After-School Programming for Refugee Youth and Children
“I wasn’t sure about it at first, but then I got to meet new kids and make new friends,” Matthew said. “My grades weren’t so [...]
Mentoring Refugee Youth
January is National Mentoring Month in the United States. The concept of mentoring is an old one, dating to ancient Greek times when Odysseus asked [...]
Refugee Youth and the Juvenile Justice System
Refugee youth in the United States often find adapting to a new environment, language, and culture can present frustrating obstacles, in addition to the everyday [...]
Sudanese Youth
Sudanese youth resettled in the United States between October 2000 and September 2001 have received extensive press attention for their strengths, the experiences they have [...]