What’s New

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

• National Migration Week will take place January 6-12. This year’s theme, “Building Communities of Welcome”, draws attention to the fact that each of our families have a migration story, some recent and others in the distant past. Justice for Immigrants (JFI) will specifically look at the important role that foster care plays in the lives of unaccompanied immigrants and refugees, highlight MRS’ Parishes Organized to Welcome Refugees, and examine local initiatives that are making important contributions in this regard.
• For the 9^th consecutive year, January has been designated National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Often coined as modern-day slavery, the subjugation of approximately 25 million individuals – including women and children –  is a reality.  As members of the BRYCS community, let’s bring in the New Year by taking action against forced labor, particularly when it involves children and families.  Consider hosting a film night with The Price of Free or downloading the Sweat & Toil app for a complete list of products and countries that contribute to child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.
• National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits can work together to increase the number of mentors to help ensure positive outcomes for our young people. Check out MENTOR’s campaign toolkit, which provides guidance on the most impactful ways you can lend your voice to the mentoring movement, as well as BRYCS youth development webpage, which include helpful resource lists on mentoring refugee youth specifically.
• Check out Raising Kids in a New Country in Spanish!  A pre and post test are also available. This booklet was created for agencies serving refugees and immigrants in order to support their efforts to ensure that newcomer parents have the basic information they need about U.S. laws and parenting practices.

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EVENTS

• The 2019 National Mentoring Summit: Building Relationships, Advancing the Movement will take place January 30-February 1, 2019 in Washington, DC. The Summit offers 100 workshops and compelling plenary sessions and is the only national forum bringing together practitioners, researchers, corporate and philanthropic partners, government and civic leaders, national youth-serving organizations and MENTOR’s network of affiliates to collectively strengthen and expand quality mentoring relationships for young people.
• The 35^th International Symposium on Child Abuse, will take place March 18-21, 2019, in Huntsville, Alabama. The conference provides expert training and numerous networking opportunities to professionals in the child maltreatment field, and addresses all aspects of child maltreatment, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, poly-victimization, exploitation, intervention, trafficking, and prevention.
• The 11th Annual Muslim Mental Health Conference will take place April 4–6, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. This year’s theme is “Putting in The Work: Service and Advocacy for Mental Health in Muslim Communities.”
• The 21^st National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect will take place April 24-26, 2019 in Washington, DC. The conference offers a unique opportunity to come together for leadership and action-oriented dialogue around creating a continuum of supports to ensure that we are a nation of strong and thriving families.

Call for Papers

• The Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. (ECDC) is accepting proposals for its 25th National Conference, taking place May 1-2, 2019, in Alexandria, Virginia. ECDC’s annual National Conference is a special event dedicated to refugee issues in the United States. This is an opportunity for refugees, advocates, service providers, and other stakeholders to come together and share research, promising practices, and strategies related to refugee resettlement. Submissions are due by March 1, 2019.
• Integration and Resettlement of Refugees and Forced Migrants, a Special issue of Social Sciences, invites papers—particularly by refugees or local citizens living in migrant-hosting towns—that explore urban integration. Applications are due by April 15, 2019.
• Regional Human Rights Regimes and the Protection of Migrants’ Rights, a Special issue of Laws, invites submissions that investigate regional standards for the protection of migrants’ human rights from a range of perspectives. Submissions may, for example, focus on a particular regional human rights regime, adopt a comparative approach, examine specific human right(s), or/and consider a particular group of migrants. Applications are due by April 30, 2019.
• “Refugees and International Law: The Challenge of Protection”, a special issue of Laws focuses specifically on how international law, in general, can strengthen the protection of the world’s most vulnerable people, refugees. The issue will be focused primarily on international refugee law, but will also encompass how international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and, international criminal law can enhance refugee protection globally. Submissions are due by May 31, 2019.
• “Immigration and Refugee Integration Policy in the United States”, a special issue of Social Sciences aims to help bring a sense of scholarly clarity to bear on U.S. immigration and refugee policy at a time when it is “sorely maligned and misunderstood.” Submissions are due by June 1, 2019.
• “Immigration Politics in the Age of Trump”, a special issue of Social Sciences aims to pause and carefully analyze the larger significance of current immigration policies and delve deeper into the social impact of these changes on immigrant communities. Submissions are due by June 3, 2019.
• Submissions are being accepted for the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, a new open access journal. The deadline is rolling.

• Connecting Emerging Scholars and Practitioners to Foster Critical Reflections and Innovation on Migration Research, from Emerging Scholars and Practitioners on Migration Issues (ESPMI), brings together emerging scholars and practitioners from a diverse range of geographic regions, disciplines, and professions to launch four knowledge clusters in the field of forced migration. Conducted through online and in-person activities, the clusters will engage students, early career professionals, researchers, community workers, advocates, and artists, experienced scholars and practitioners, to facilitate discussion and collaboration for innovation in migration research and practice. (Description from source)
• Call for Submissions! The Child Welfare Journal is looking for articles that extend knowledge in any child/family welfare or related service; on any aspect of administration, supervision, casework, group work, community organization, teaching, research, or interpretation; on any facet of interdisciplinary approaches to the field; or on issues of social policy that bear on the welfare of children and their families. The deadline is rolling.
• Migration Studies is seeking high quality research on human migration in all its manifestations, and particularly work that presents: comparative findings with relevance beyond a single case study; new methodological techniques and insights; or new theoretical takes on the drivers, dimensions and impacts of migration.
• Migration Letters is inviting papers on the following topics: migration and security, intra-rural migration, conflict and migration, health and migration, trafficking, asylum migration, development and migration, immigrant integration, return migration, psychology of migration, migration and SMEs, gender issues, migration research and scholars. The deadline is rolling.

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FUNDING

• OPRE Career Pathways Secondary Data Analysis grants, from the Department of Health and Human Services, support secondary data analysis to rigorously evaluate career pathways programs, including the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) Evaluation and the rigorous evaluation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program. Applications are due by May 31, 2019.
• OPRE Secondary Analysis of Strengthening Families Datasets grants, from the Department of Health and Human Services, support secondary analysis of data collected to rigorously evaluate a collection of career pathways programs, specifically for the Building Strong Families (BSF), Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM), and Parents and Children Together (PACT) data sets. Applications are due by May 31, 2019.
• OPRE Family Strengthening Scholars grants, from the Department of Health and Human Services, support dissertation research on healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood policy issues, particularly for underserved and understudied populations. These grants aim to build capacity in the research field and foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and high-quality doctoral students. Applications are due by May 30, 2019.
• The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation is now accepting proposals from nonprofit organizations for projects which contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth. Grants are awarded for one year. Applications are accepted from May 1 to July 15.
• Westinghouse Charitable Giving Program provides financial support to communities in one or more of our strategic areas of giving. These include education with a focus on STEM, environmental sustainability, and community safety and vitality. The deadline is rolling.

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RESOURCES

Migration & Resettlement Awareness

• “Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime?”, an article from Criminology, researches this question through examining rates of migration over the last two decades and ultimately determines that undocumented immigration does not affect violent crime.

For Refugee/Immigrant Children & Youth

• Zufan and the Flower teaches lessons of family love and that running from trouble only makes it worse. The presentation of the book helps teach children about different languages and cultures and allows parents to read the story in new language. Recommended for ages 4-10. (Description from source)
• “Just Another Refugee!” Art and Poetry by Salam Noah, from Youth Circulations, is a collection of works by Salam, a refugee from Iraq. The works were inspired by his experience waiting for asylum in Greece. Recommended for grades 3-5.

Cultural Orientation/Integration

• Promising Practice: Delivering Gender-Segregated Cultural Orientation Sessions, from Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE), identifies the steps for implementing identified practices, along with stories from the field and tips for success.
• Exploring the Potential of Two-Generation Strategies in Refugee Integration, a webinar from Migration Policy Institute (MPI), explores promising practices to better serve refugee families, including innovative efforts to secure better jobs for adult refugees over time. In a conversation with state refugee coordinators, study authors discuss the potential for implementing and supporting two-generation approaches to refugee integration at a time when the system’s funding and capacity are in peril. (Description from source)
• Real People, True Stories: Refugees for More Inclusive Societies, from Friends of Europe, provides recommendations from refugees themselves for more inclusive, culturally competent communities. The article focuses on transforming the negative narrative of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers into a positive, more welcoming one.

Child Welfare/Families

• Supporting Children and Parents Affected by the Trauma of Separation, from The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, provides information on working with families who have been separated. The article focuses on trauma informed care to promote resilience and coordinated efforts by parents, educators, service providers and communities.
• Love Without Borders: Grandfamilies and Immigration, from Generations United, highlights the additional hurdles faced by grandfamilies who come together as a result of a parent’s detention or deportation. Those hurdles include restricted access to support and services to help meet the children’s needs, language barriers, and fear of government agencies. The report contains concrete policy and program recommendations to help guide policymakers and advocates.
• Indigenous Child Welfare: The Long Emergency and a Way Forward, a learning module series from  the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), explores the current state of the literature pertaining to child welfare with indigenous families, why disparities exist, and evidence on culturally-based child welfare programs. The online modules are self-directed learning opportunities for child welfare professionals, foster parents, advocates, and others interested in child welfare topics. (Description from source)
• Away from Home, and All Alone: Helping Displaced Children Understand Foster Care, from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was developed to provide better care to unaccompanied and separated children in Malaysia, though may be helpful in other countries. The handbook answers questions about foster care, including the roles of the parents, case workers and how each of them can support the child. Other related resources include: 1) Handbook for Foster Care Agency; 2) Handbook for Foster Parents; 3) Manual on Foster Care for Unaccompanied and Separated Children.

Early Childhood

• Applying Child Development Research to Immigration Policy, from The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families, is a new brief that explains what research on child development, neuroscience, and trauma tells us about the negative effects of forced separation and detention can have on immigrant families and children. These children may experience traumatic stress that can alter their brain’s structure and functioning and result in difficulties in eating and sleeping or emotional and behavioral problems. Parents’ traumatization may also be felt and internalized by their children. (Description from source)

Education

• Hear it from the Teachers: Getting Refugee Children Back to Learning, from Save the Children, discusses the importance of education for refugee children, as well as challenges teachers face when working to support refugee children who need to recover, learn and ultimately thrive.
• Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, analyzes contemporary classrooms, developing ideas about ways teachers can be better cultural transmitters in the classroom to combat prejudice, stereotypes and cultural assumptions that can result in ineffective education.
• “Community-based Interventions for Language Learning among Refugees and Migrants”, from Refugees & HCI Workshop: The Role of HCI in Responding to the Refugee Crisis, Communities & Technologies, presents recent research projects carried out at The Open University UK that involved work with migrant learners. Across these projects the aim was to understand the use of mobile technologies, to create and evaluate several mobile applications for informal learning scenarios, and to design learning activities with an aim to support language acquisition. (Description from source)

Youth

• “Invisible Lives and Hidden Realities of Undocumented Youth”, from Refuge, explores the lived experiences of undocumented youth and the mental health impacts of living in daily fear of detention and deportation.

Health/Mental Health

• “Trauma without Borders: The Necessity for School-based Interventions in Treating Unaccompanied Refugee Minors”, from Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, explores the migration of Mexican and Central American unaccompanied refugee minors in order to understand it as a three-pronged process. The article addresses the complexities of migration and the importance of trauma informed care in schools and communities.
• Advancing Equity: Refugee and Ethnic Mental Health, from the Nile Sisters, highlights key themes that emerged in roundtable discussions and subsequent community dialogues. These were designed to explore perceptions, attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs regarding mental health. Participants also discussed promising practices, evidence-based interventions, and recommendations to improve knowledge, awareness, and utilization of mental health services. (Description from source)
• National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS Standards) Toolkit, from the Office of Minority Health (OMH), provides guidance for health care organizations’ efforts in evaluating their implementation. The toolkit distills the elements of the framework and can help guide evaluations across ambulatory care, behavioral health, hospitals, and public health settings.

Female Genital Cutting (FGC)

• Consider the Personhood of Women Who Experienced Genital Cutting, from the Mayo Clinic, examines an article from a previous issue of Mayo Clinic, which focused on comprehensive data regarding FGC in African and Middle Eastern women. The author points out that, although educational, the article failed to show the human aspects of affected women and their varying needs and levels of acculturation.

Anti-Trafficking

• Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Settings Affected by Armed Conflicts in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: Systemic Review, from Rise Learning Network, examines ten databases as well as grey literature to further evidence of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in conflict-affected settings.

Program Development

• Understanding and Benefiting from Corporate Volunteering, a blog post from HIGHER, discusses the usefulness of corporate volunteers to expand support services for refugees especially when it comes to networking and career advancement due to their connections and experience.
• State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review, from the Kirwan Institute, provides a snapshot of the field and discusses the latest research-based strategies for mitigating the influence of implicit biases, as well as a recognition of major contributions that expand beyond these domain-specific boundaries. Tests can also be taken, providing the study with information about your own attitudes and biases.