Refugees face structural and cultural barriers associated with higher physical and mental health disparities, poverty, and uncertainty about their rights and legal status.

Challenges

• Community members may not have access to accurate and up to date policy-related information (e.g., misconception on the permanent resident or citizenship process).
• Refugee uncertainty about healthcare benefit qualification (e.g., Federal reductions in Affordable Care Act outreach).
• Refugee reluctance/avoidance of benefit programs for mental and physical health care (e.g., fear of deportation, cultural misunderstandings, service systems biases).
• K-12 personnel may not recognize trauma symptoms in refugee children.
• Lack of cultural competency in organizations serving refugees (e.g. mental and physical health, schools).

Possible Responses

• Disseminating accurate and objective information by investing in collaborative, multi-agency and community- based partnerships interacting with refugee families (e.g., faith based groups, grassroots, schools, other immigrant service organizations).
• Providing accurate (multilingual) information using reputable social media sources such as those associated with professional organizations, subject matter experts, and certain celebrities.
• Expanding State healthcare multilingual outreach as Federal healthcare outreach declines,
• Ensuring refugee mental and physical care outreach includes “no threat of deportation” status communication.
• Use Trauma Informed Care (TIC) approaches to recognize and treat trauma in refugee children. For example, recognizing the signs of trauma and mental illness.
• Enforcing culturally conscious services for refugees. Some examples may include: Promoting cultural competency training in schools, community agencies, tailoring culturally responsive mental health services, and requiring cultural competency training in higher education curriculum.
• Cultural conscious programming also includes cultural humility, country of origin political/social climate awareness, developmental, gender, and language needs.

Key Resources

• Refugee and asylum policy by The Migration Policy Institute
• What immigrants and refugees need to know about the Affordable Care Act by SAMHSA
• Guidelines on trauma informed care for immigrant children by The National Research Center for Children and Families
• Data on the impact of State benefits for immigrant children by The National Center for Children in Poverty
• Resources to engage immigrants in physical and mental health care by The Children’s Partnership – California Immigrant Policy Center