Provides information about refugee families and guidance on how to help their children settle into and benefit from the child care environment. Child care providers are given basic information about: (1) why families left their home country and the many different social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds from which they come; (2) the challenges facing refugee parents, including being separated from other family members, coping with poverty and difficult housing conditions, dealing with racial harassment and isolation, and having little knowledge about schools, health services, and other social services; (3) the stresses affecting refugee children as well as unaccompanied children; (4) techniques for assessing and promoting children’s learning capabilities; (5) effective ways to work with refugee families; and (6) practical tips for welcoming new refugee children into the child care group, including finding out about the child’s history, offering a planned induction period to help children adjust totheir new setting, arranging for translation and interpreting services, encouraging children to express themselves, and making use of bilingual staff and community resources. Culturally sensitive, trustworthy child care offers social and educational opportunities for refugee children and enables parents to take up paid work or study in order to make successful transitions to a new culture.
