Objectives
The goals of this study are as follows: 1) to gain a better understanding of the impact of geopolitical violence on youth and families; 2) to describe the mental health dimensions of the traumas of separation from family, reunification with estranged family, flight from one’s home country to the United States, and the needs in the United States; and 3) to learn how to use clinical and family therapy clinical techniques in a coordinated and interdisciplinary system of care.
Methods
Policy, research, and clinical care will be presented as follows: 1) push and pull factors, “Strengths and Needs: An overview of unaccompanied minors (UM) into the U.S.” (Suzan Song, MD, MPH, PhD); 2) family detention (Andres Pumariega, MD); 3) reunification to a forgotten family (Saara Amri, LCP); and 4) treating families facing and dealing with reunification with unaccompanied minors (UM) (John Sargent, MD).
Results
1) Dr. Song first provides the research on the mental health of UM and then discusses their experiences and clinical care available here in the United States through her work with the Office of Refugee Resettlement; 2) Dr. Pumariega will discuss the experiences of fragmented families through his role on the Federal Advisory Committee for Family Reunification Centers; 3) Saara Amri will discuss how a community-based agency responds to the needs of UM and mediates barriers to successful family reunification through the presentation of a case example; and 4) Dr. Sargent will discuss culturally appropriate therapeutic ways to clinically engage UM and families using family techniques.
Conclusions
The mental health dimensions of migration, separation from families, along with multidimensional exposure to trauma, and living in an age of political upheaval present challenges to children and to professionals concerned with their health and development. There are a growing number of UMs, with the demands of mental health needs more than the supply of child and adolescent psychiatrists experienced to work with this population.