Presents a conceptual model for understanding the mental health status of African children who are refugees. The model considers the nature of the refugee experience, the timing of professional interventions within the migration process, and degree of stress and trauma encountered, the nature and extent of the loss sustained and the availability of opportunities for grieving, the presence and strength of social and emotional supports, and the coping strategies and adaptation skills available to refugees. When African children face war, violence, famine, disaster, or persecution, the only escape often is to flee the situation. Because the stress of both flight and experienced traumas have a cumulative effect, social workers need to be trained explicitly in ways of talking with children in refugee camps about the losses and traumas that they experienced. The social work profession can begin to respond to the desperate needs of displaced children in Africa by integrating refugee issues into the curricula of all schools of social work. Professional collaborations also need to be explored by such organizations as the International Federation of Social Workers, the International Association of Schools of Social Welfare, and the National Association of Social Workers.
