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I am only editing and revising the Access to Education portion of this article. After I finish contributing to that section, I will briefly copy edit the rest of the article.

Refugee children face a multitude of obstacles after arriving at refugee camps or settlements within developing countries to escape situations of emergency and crisis. Young refugees immigrating to North America also experience difficulty navigating and making sense of their new environment. Numerous studies have been conducted throughout much of the past half century regarding the mental health of refugee children, most of which indicate that multiple pre-migration and post-migration stressors can increase the likelihood of such children acquiring certain mental deficiencies. Although all refugees (regardless of their age) can be impaired by their experiences, children are typically considered to be the most susceptible to the process, as “At a crucial and vulnerable time in their lives they have been uprooted,” and oftentimes exposed to danger and insecurity as well. Ultimately, compared to other immigrants and to refugee adults, "...refugee children are more likely to have serious problems associated with malnutrition, disease, physical injuries, brain damage and sexual or physical abuse." These problems may affect the child's cognitive, social and emotional development, leading to serious mental deficiencies/illnesses including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.

Definition of a refugee

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the term “refugee” is meant to refer to any individual who “…is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” Prior to the twentieth century, a legal definition for a “refugee” did not exist. Largely following the First World War (and as a consequence of a massive number of Bolsheviks fleeing from Russia), states began to recognize certain groups of people as “refugees”, and granted them specific rights in accordance with this association. The United Nations 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees effectively codified this recognition and was augmented by a 1967 protocol which broadened the recognition of such refugees beyond an initial focus on Europeans displaced after World War II. At present, 147 nations are parties to either the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Protocol. As mentioned, the term refugee originally maintained a relatively narrow focus; however, over time the political meaning of the term “refugee” has changed substantially, and now reflects a far broader range of social phenomena. Still, some scholars argue that the definition provided and supported by the UNHCR is somewhat narrow in its focus, as it does not manage to account for certain factors which can force an individual’s displacement from their homeland. For example, the UNHCR’s definition does not manage to acknowledge that “No international or national legislation explicitly recognises or defines ‘environmentally displaced persons’ and there are no bodies mandated to offer them protection.” This area of focus constitutes a topic of great debate in contemporary international relations.

According to a report published by the UNHCR IN 2006, approximately 44% of the world’s refugees are children. With regards to international law, according to the Convention on the Rights of a Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts, a child is typically considered to be anyone below the age of 18. Thus, of the millions of individuals who have been forcibly displaced throughout much of the past half century, nearly half have been below the age of 18.

According to the UNHCR, since 1980, 1.8 million refugees have been invited to live in the United States, 40% of whom have been children. An estimated 95% of them resettle with their parents. About 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries. Presently, the largest refugee producing countries include Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan.

Contributing factors

The potential contributing factors which can lead to mental health illnesses in refugee children are numerous. According to a committee created by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Refugee Trauma Taskforce – a project funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – stressors can occur not only prior to a child’s resettlement, but also during and following the process itself.

Pre-migration factors

With regards to potential contributing factors faced prior to a child’s resettlement, the main issues involve the adverse effects of child labour (which can include their recruitment as both soldiers and sex slaves), warfare and economic disparity.

Child labour

There are two primary aspects in which children can suffer grave mental health issues as a result of their utilization as “workers” within a given nation. The first aspect deals with the sex industry, and involves children being taken from their homes and used as sex slaves.

Sex industry

The Office of Citizenship and Immigration Canada considers children under the age of 18 who are not accompanied by a family member to be considered “unaccompanied”. UNHCR estimates that over 12,800 children travel in this “unaccompanied” fashion to industrialized nations on a yearly basis. Ultimately, such unaccompanied children constitute 4 to 5 percent of all asylum seekers. Upon arrival, refugee status can be claimed and protection is provided; however, numerous children are forced to travel with human smugglers and are coerced to lie and tell immigration officials that these smugglers are their relatives. Many children typically choose to leave their homeland due to poverty and violent conditions. Moreover, separated children may seek asylum because of fear of persecution or a lack of protection due to human rights violations in their home nation. Generally speaking, political crises such as civil wars and religious or ethnic conflicts are still deemed the main reasons for unaccompanied minors to flee their countries of origin. Unfortunately, these desires can be potentially harnessed by these smugglers in an attempt to pursue their exploitation as child sex workers. Volatile economic conditions can serve to make children particularly vulnerable to traffickers with young girls representing the primary target of sexual exploitation. According to the report entitled “Trafficking in Unaccompanied Minors for Sexual Exploitation in the European Union”, the countries from which unaccompanied children typically originate are very diverse. The main originating points of these unaccompanied children are Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, China, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Additionally, the data provided by the Immigration and Refugee Board confirms this increasing trend in Canada as well. Many of these unaccompanied children arriving from conflict zones are being forced to take the sex traffic route, an industry that generates over 30 billion USD annually. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that about 1.2 million children are trafficked for labour or sexual exploitation, representing about 50 percent of the 2.4 million people trafficked worldwide.

Child soldiers

The second aspect deals with the use of children during times of war, wherein these children can be recruited as child soldiers and placed on the battlefield. It follows (by logical extension) that such a contributing factor is most likely when a child escapes a war-torn nation (as in the case of Rwanda during the genocide of 1994, for example). Ultimately, the prevalence of child soldiers has increased dramatically since WWII, culminating during the 1990s when the number of child soldiers reached approximately 300 000. This vast number was largely reached due to the emergence of small arms and light weapons (SALWs), which are both small and light enough to be wielded by a child. While many children are abducted and forced into becoming soldiers, many others join voluntarily (perhaps out of desperation as a result of poverty, grief, a desire for revenge, or even their particular ideology). Numerous testimonials provided by non-governmental organizations working with these children following their resettlement indicate that they often enjoy the sense of power that comes with the weapon and the control it affords them. SALWs represent a symbol of masculinity for young and previously defenceless boys. In this way, whether a child is abducted and forced into the army or joins voluntarily, war itself can often become a part of the child’s identity. This phenomenon – particularly when combined with the severe effects of such conflict on both the physical welfare and mental stability of the child – demonstrates how difficult reintegration may prove to be when they are removed from the unstable environment.

In terms of potential mental health issues arising from a child’s activities as a soldier, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), former child soldiers are more likely to attain severe mental health problems including symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression. During a study conducted in 2008 involving 141 former child soldiers, 52.3% were diagnosed with depression, 46.1% were diagnosed with anxiety, and 55.3% were diagnosed as displaying identifiable symptoms of PTSD. In total, 62.4% of the respondents studied were considered to be “functionally impaired” as a result of their experiences as child soldiers.

Warfare

The impact of war as a general experience can also serve to greatly impair the mental faculties of children prior to their resettlement as refugees. According to a report released by the United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development in 1996, throughout the past century the proportion of war victims who are civilians (i.e. non-combatants) has increased dramatically from as low as 5 per cent to over 90 per cent in certain conflict regions. Of these civilians, a large majority are inevitably children. When a child is subjected to remain confined within a hostile environment for a protracted period of time, their confrontations with violence (both direct and structural) can lead to not only physical trauma, but mental trauma as well. Although war can impact those involved in an oftentimes unprejudiced (i.e. ubiquitous) fashion, children tend to feel the most helpless and vulnerable during times of conflict. Consequently, they will often feel a degree of shame following their removal from the conflict, alongside a loss of self-confidence in their ability to control their own lives. This shame, particularly when combined with the horrific atrocities such children might observe, can serve to enhance their vulnerability to developing such mental conditions as PTSD and depression.

In a study conducted in 2004, 68 Rwandan orphans were interviewed regarding their war experiences and PTSD symptoms. It was found that each respondent had been exposed to extreme levels of violence and that the total number of “experienced traumas” described by each individual respondent was positively correlated with the number of PTSD symptoms they exhibited. In other words, the more violence the children had seen during the genocide, the greater the effect of the subsequent PTSD. Important to note is the fact that this study was conducted exactly 10 years after the genocide had occurred in 1994, which indicates the potentially long-term nature of mental health deficiencies in children previously affected by armed conflicts.

Economic disparity

Poverty constitutes a health risk for any child. According to most physicians it stands as a “…well-recognized fact that poverty has important implications for both physical and mental health.” The World Health Organization (WHO) has referred to poverty as the greatest cause of suffering on earth. Although poverty is not unique to refugee populations, it can be particularly pervasive given conditions supporting the creation of such individuals (i.e. within war-torn countries); therefore, it stands as an important pre-migration factor to take into consideration when characterizing mental illnesses in refugee children. Poverty can be “…intrinsically alienating and distressing, and of particular concern are the direct and indirect effects of poverty on the development and maintenance of emotional, behavioural and psychiatric problems.” Although money is not a “guarantor of mental health”, it is generally accepted that economic disparity can be “…both a determinant and a consequence of poor mental health.” The issue of economic disparity can become greatly compounded by any (or all) of the other factors mentioned above, which can serve to fundamentally increase the likelihood of the eventual development of a mental health deficiency in a refugee child.

Post-migration factors

With regards to potential contributing factors faced following a child’s resettlement, the main issues involve the adverse effects of a child’s potential separation from family members alongside the stigma which can accompany a refugee during the process of resettlement.

Separation

If a child is determined to be “unaccompanied”, not only will they be vulnerable to being trafficked by smugglers but they will also be without their traditional caretakers. Consequently, refugee children who are without caretakers may be at an even greater risk (as compared to other refugee children) in terms of potentially exhibiting psychiatric symptoms of mental illnesses following episodes of traumatic stress. A study conducted involving 455 Vietnamese children compared unaccompanied refugees (i.e. refugees without their traditional caretakers) in camps in Hong Kong and South East Asia to a similar number of local children (i.e. individuals who remained in contact with their traditional caretakers), placing a focus on their behavioural patterns. It was found that the unaccompanied refugee children displayed more behaviour problems and emotional distress than their counterparts. Ultimately, parental well-being plays a crucial role in enabling resettled refugees to transition into their newfound society in a smooth fashion. Studies conducted throughout the past few decades have even suggested that PTSD symptoms in mothers (i.e. caregivers) can oftentimes be correlated to the internalization of PTSD symptoms within refugee children. Consequently, if a child is separated from his/her caretakers during a process of resettlement, the likelihood that he/she will suffer through a mental illness can become potentially increased.

Stigma

Some research has been conducted to indicate that stigma can serve as a fundamental cause of mental disease exacerbation in refugee children. Refugees are often at risk of stigmatization as a result of their respective race, ethnicity and/or religion; however, they can also be stigmatized if they encounter mental health deficiencies both prior to and during their resettlement into a new society, which actively compounds the issue and can perpetuate the cycle of stigmatization. Even simple disjunctures between parental and host country values (alongside asymmetric acculturation) can serve to create a rift between the refugee child and his/her new society, which can lead to his/her stigmatization and contribute to the development of a mental health deficiency. A study was conducted involving two different ethnic groups of refugee children from Afghanistan who were resettled in the United States and found significantly lower levels of PTSD exhibited by the group that (upon investigation) had experienced the least degree of social stigma regarding their participation in Muslim activities. The study effectively raises the question as to whether or not the lower rates of PTSD in the one group of refugee children is related to the group’s overall exposure to stigmatization (which was less than that of the other group).

Access to healthcare

Mental health of all children, including refugee children, is usually advocated for by parents, who have historically possessed the right to make decisions on behalf of their children, with little to no limitations. The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was amended in 2002, resulting in an influx of refugees with complex medical needs, but there is a lack of refugee-specific and especially child-specific research in the area of help-seeking and service utilization. Most research interest has centered on ethnic minority populations but does not look at refugee subsets of these populations. It is also difficult to determine service utilization rates and patterns, particularly for children who are known to access mental health care across a range of sectors. There is more data, although still limited, on refugee women and specifically mothers in North America, but there are consistent reports of mental health services being underutilized by this cohort. Canada has universal health care, but the number of Canadians with health care needs not addressed is growing. The risk of unmet needs is highest in women from low-income households, and even when external factors such as help-seeking characteristics are controlled, immigrant and specifically refugee women have a higher percentage of unmet health services than their non-immigrant counterparts in similar socioeconomic brackets. Research shows various language, cultural and structural barriers to access for refugee women and mothers. This is vitally important to the mental and physical health of refugee children, since parents are the advocates of their children’s health. Better understanding these barriers will provide insight into improving mental health care access of children of refugees in North America. There are also unaccompanied refugee minors upon whom some research has been conducted (see below).

Cognitive and emotional barriers

As a result of the migration process, many immigrant and refugee women suffer serious mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, PTSD, thoughts of suicide and psychosis. Having to avert repressive governments and cope with lengthy bureaucratic procedures to flee their homelands, many refugees develop a mistrust of authority figures. Personal experiences with biomedicine, fear or authority and a general lack of awareness regarding mental health issues can create significant barriers in terms of how women are able to seek help in managing their mental illness.

A study conducted by Donelly et al. followed ten women born in China and Sudan who were living with mental illness. The respondents reported that a lack of appropriate services that suit their needs creates a structural barrier for these women to access mental health care. Furthermore, women from certain cultures often draw upon informal support systems and practice self-care strategies to cope with their mental illnesses and its related problems, rather than relying so much upon biomedicine (as is encouraged by the Western medical model). These effects are compounded by difficulties associated with language and cultural differences in a refugee’s ultimate understanding of mental illness and the support systems utilized.

Though some women in this study were able to seek and actively access health information through workshops and counseling, not all participants were able to access the necessary mental health care services in a timely manner. Some participants waited until their problems grew beyond their control before reaching out for professional and medical help, at which point doctors reported that it had reached the crisis phase of the problem. Factors reported as delayers of their help-seeking included:

• Fear of discrimination and stigmatization
• Denial of mental illness as defined in the Western context
• Fear of the unknown consequences of being diagnosed with mental illness (i.e. deportation, separation from family, losing children)
• Mistrust of Western biomedicine

Amongst these individual factors, participants in the study said fear of discrimination and stigmatization by their ethnic community members stood as the greatest cultural barrier. In another study carried out by Crooks et al., sources of mental stress in the context of adjusting to life in a new setting were researched for newcomers to Toronto, Canada (alongside the stress involved in the newcomer’s ability to utilize the new health care system inherent of the region to which they have resettled). With more than 5 million residents, The GTA is Canada’s largest city, and settlers to the Toronto metropolitan area comprised over 40% of all immigrants to Canada between 1996 and 2006. Thus, a significant number of health and social services aimed at newcomers are situated in Toronto. Still, many refugee mothers in this study expressed stress (inducing insecurity and fear) over going outside and navigating the new environment without the knowledge of how to get around. This feeling of fear was emphasized among non-English speakers who stated that they were not only unfamiliar with their new surroundings but also felt uncomfortable asking for help from others in their neighbourhoods.

Language barriers and cultural differences were frequently cited as sources of stress for many mothers during the ongoing process of adjusting to the Canadian health system. Shaped by cultural practices and understandings of medical care, newcomers had unmet expectations regarding care in relation to conversation and etiquette. Subtle gestures and inferred perceptions such as feeling “rushed” and avoidance of eye contact were deemed to constitute a lack of respect on the part of health care practitioners, and considered a source of mental stress for the patients. This was compounded by the fact that for some women from certain cultural backgrounds in which mental health issues are considered taboo, even discussing the topic with health and social care workers is a source of apprehension. For those mothers not fluent in English or unable to find a doctor conversant in their mother-tongue, challenges experienced in creating successful provider-patient interactions were “…further compounded by language barriers and uncertain cultural norms when seeing doctors.”

Special case: post-partum depression in refugee mothers and the impact on child health

Access to services for refugees living in Canada is especially important during the postpartum period, when additional health services and support are even more vital to maternal and child health. Children of postpartum mothers are exposed to hostility, withdrawal and inconsistent parenting, alongside other negative maternal affect and behaviours. These children may therefore experience limited positive affect and higher levels of negative affect in their interactions with their mothers. Attachment, self-control and other important developmental attributes are likely to be disrupted in children of depressed mothers. Furthermore, postpartum depression can predict negative behavior in children even years later. Though remissions of maternal depression with treatment has recently been linked to improved child outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence, the data does not suggest that recovery from depression can fully reverse disrupted developmental processes already underway in the children. Consequently, the most effective possible solution concerns early detection and recovery to mitigate the negative outcomes which become more difficult to change over developmental time.

Even if early recovery can help to reverse the negative effects on child psychological development there are many structural and cultural barriers that may prevent access to the assistance needed, especially for refugee mothers. Recent studies found refugee claimant women to have a higher number of postpartum health and social concerns not being addressed by the Canadian health care system. These studies on the barriers to health and social service post-birth reveal several main themes regarding the lack of access for refugee mothers to health services.

Structural barriers

Refugees are a special sub-population of North American newcomers that require comprehensive and complex care. Their social determinants of health render them particularly vulnerable to experiencing mental health complications both pre- and post-migration. Upon arrival to their host country, refugees encounter a number of structural barriers to accessing adequate mental health care services. Language barriers and a lack of culturally competent care constitute two pressing concerns that dominate literature in refugee health studies. In addition, cost complications, a lack of public awareness and access to information about available resources, and a few administrative deterrents for health care providers to take on refugee patients represent a few barriers to accessing mental health care services that refugees face within their North American host country. The following exploration of the structural barriers to accessing mental health care services articulates how the adult refugee experience interacts with the likelihood of child and adolescent refugees receiving adequate mental health care.

Language barriers

The Canadian Task Force on Mental Health Issues Affecting Immigrants and Refugees has identified that fewer than 20% of adult refugees in Canada can speak either English or French upon arrival. The multifaceted issue posed by language barriers is repeatedly represented in refugee studies literature as one of the largest structural barriers refugees face in accessing mental health care services in North America. While a broad spectrum of translation services are available to all immigrants - including refugees - only a small number of those services constitute government-sponsored programs. In Canada, a tripartite subsidy system has created some confusion over the responsibility and role of the government in providing translation services as part of an insurance plan to Canadian newcomers. As a result, community-sponsored social and health programs attempt to re-assign tight internal budgets to absorb the expensive costs associated with translation services. The redistribution of funds to accommodate the need for translation services is extremely limited so as to not compromise other essential services provided by community health organizations, the upshot of which is a lack of adequate translation services available, and a consequent language barrier to adequate care.

With a shortage of subsidized translators available, refugee patients and their health care practitioners are forced to improvise their method of communication. Because children and adolescents have shown a greater capacity to adopt their host country's language and cultural practices in settlement, they are often used as linguistic intermediaries between service providers and their parents. Informal practices such as this one may result in increased tension in family dynamics, wherein potentially culturally sensitive roles are reversed. Although the likely successful transition of refugee adolescents is well defined, the added stress of needing to compensate for a lack of available translation services poses undue stress on the cultural adaptation process. In one camp, high self-esteem and self-worth of adult-accompanied refugee children correlates directly with their acquisition of their host country's language. In the opposing camp, adult-accompanied child refugees' increased adaptability to the host country's culture combined with a lack of adequate health care resources (e.g. translation services) prescribes an undue responsibility for their parent's care that is directly related to a decrease in their own mental health. Research has shown that traditional family dynamics in refugee families that are disturbed by cultural adaptation (e.g. the acquisition of language) tend to destabilize important cultural norms, which can create a rift between parent and child. The resulting affect is an increase of depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns in the culturally-adapted adolescent refugees.

Relying on other family members or community members has been documented to have equally problematic results: relatives and community members familiar to the patient have been known to unintentionally exclude or include details relevant to comprehensive care, which can result in misdiagnoses. Health care practitioners are also hesitant to rely on members of the community because it poses a distinct breach of confidentiality. In addition, research has shown that having a third party present reduces the willingness of refugees to trust their health care practitioners, and disclose information vital to the process of receiving mental health care.

Even when a translator is available, accessing culturally sensitive care remains complicated. Some refugees may have emerged from conflict in their country of origin that involves friction between opposing sub-cultures. Translators are acquired based on their ability to translate a language, without consideration of potential conflicting cultural identities. When cultural consideration is given, the small pool of translators available for any particular language can make it impossible to accommodate a cultural divide. Furthermore, McKeary has identified that translation services in North America are structured in such a way that patients may receive a different translator for each of their follow-up appointments with their mental health care providers, and "...the lack of a consistent professional interpreter that follows a client through the system may mean that refugees need to re-tell their story via multiple interpreters, further increasing the potential to compromise confidentiality and using valuable time in a provider’s office.”

The structural difficulties of cross-cultural interaction in the North American health care system are not limited to language barriers. Cultural sensitivity plays an integral role in every aspect of the comprehensive care process associated with refugees.

Culturally competent care

Providing culturally competent care is essential to mental health services for refugees. However, research has shown that a lack of availability of culturally competent care in North America is one of the leading factors contributing to many refugee's inability to access mental health care services. Culturally competent care exists when health care providers have received specialized training that helps them to identify the actual and potential cultural factors informing their interactions with refugee patients.

At the epicenter of the traditional biomedical model of Western medicine is the concept of a “universal patient body,” wherein considerations of cultural and social identity are not prioritized in the treatment process. Curriculum that addresses culturally competent care is not available in North American medical schools, resulting in a shortage of health care providers with the specialized training required to navigate the cultural divide in providing comprehensive care to refugees. While culturally competent care tends to prioritize the social and cultural determinants contributing to health, a biomedical model of care often fails to acknowledge them at all.

For instance, in a biomedical model of care, patients are expected to present their symptoms in a "straightforward" manner to their health care providers. A culturally competent model of care recognizes that a patient’s description of symptoms is case sensitive: it is the product of interactions between cultural norms about disclosure, the experience of manifest symptoms varying with ethnicity, and the individual patient’s readiness to offer personal information (among other things). With respect to considerations of mental health care services, refugees are a particularly vulnerable subcategory of the newcomer population; their specialized needs are often critical and complex, demanding physicians and healthcare providers with a particular skill set and knowledge base. To provide culturally competent care to refugees, mental health care providers should demonstrate some understanding of the patient’s background, and a sensitive commitment to relevant cultural manners (for example: privacy, gender dynamics, religious customs, and lack of language skills). In North America, a documented shortage of mental health care providers compounded with the restrictions of the types of government-subsidized services available to refugees makes culturally competent care a virtual impossibility.

The resulting affect of an interaction with mental health care that is not culturally competent is a negative experience on the part of the refugee patient accessing the healthcare service. Studies have shown that a large part of the willingness of refugees to access mental health care services rests on the degree of cultural sensitivity inherent within the structure of their service provider. Because they are unlikely to receive culturally competent care within the biomedical model of healthcare that is available to them via government-subsidy, refugees are unlikely to access the resource again.

Furthermore, the protective influence exercised by adult refugees on their child and adolescent dependents makes it unlikely that young adult-accompanied refugees will access mental healthcare services. Only 10-30% of youth in the general population, with a demonstrated need for mental healthcare services, are accessing care. Several studies have reported that adolescent ethnic minorities are less likely to access mental healthcare services when compared to youth in the dominant cultural group. A known lack of available culturally competent care interacts with the three stages of the help-seeking process of adolescents:

1. Problem-recognition,
2. Decision to seek help (internal and external factors), and
3. Service selection/utilization,

to significantly reduce this percentage in the adolescent refugee sub-population. Parents, caretakers and teachers are more likely to report an adolescent’s need for help, and seek help resources, than the adolescent is to self-identify the need for help. In this way, unaccompanied refugee minors are even less likely to access mental health care services than their accompanied counterparts; a lack of culturally competent care reduces the likelihood that the first step of the help-seeking process, problem recognition, will be realized. In their host countries, unaccompanied refugee minors do not receive 24 hour supervision like some of them would by their caretakers or parents in their country of origin. As "internalizing complaints such as depression and anxiety have been found to be prevalent forms of psychological distress among refugee children and adolescents," unaccompanied refugee minors undergoing this cultural adaptation process become victims of a discrepancy between the inability to self-identify a need for help and the lack of support necessary for other-identified need for help.

Other obstacles

Additional Structural Deterrents for Refugees to Seek Care:

• Complicated insurance policies based on refugee status (e.g. Government Assistant Refugees vs. Non-), resulting in hidden costs for refugee patients
• Lack of Transportation
• A lack of public awareness and access to information about available resources
• An unfamiliarity with the host country's healthcare system, amplified by a shortage of government or community intervention in settlement services

Structural Deterrents for Healthcare Professionals to Provide Care:

• Heightened instances of mental health complications in refugee populations
• A lack of documented medical history, making comprehensive care difficult
• Time constraints: medical appointments are restricted to a small window of opportunity, making it difficult to connect and provide mental health care for refugees
• Complicated insurance plans, resulting in a delay in compensation for the healthcare provider

Access to Education

Adapting to a new school environment is one of the major tasks facing refugee children when they arrive in a new country or refugee camp. Education is crucial in the psychosocial adjustment and cognitive growth of refugee children. Therefore, it is important for educators in Western and developing countries to consider the needs, obstacles, and successful educational pathways for children refugees.

Issues Faced

Structure of the Education System

North America

Schools in North America lack the resources necessary to support refugee children in negotiating their academic experience so the diverse learning needs of refugee children often go unnoticed. The formal processes and hierarchy of Western educational institutions (such as complex schooling policies that vary by classroom, building, and district) and procedures that require written communication or parent involvement intimidate parents of refugee children. Many schools lack accurate background information on refugee children, which affects classroom placement and academic success. Educators in North America typically guess the grade in which refugee children should be placed because there is not a standard test or formal interview process required of refugee children. This lack of special support systems in place to assist schools, refugee families, and students in the process of adapting refugee children is relatively common in North American school systems.

For example, the education system in many Canadian provinces has an age-cap of 19 years. This age-cap means that children must have finished within publicly funded high schools by the age of 19 or pay a fee in order to continue receiving education services. The educational policy can be harmful to refugee children, because political conflicts in their home countries and resettlement to a host country may impact the years necessary to complete their education.

Developing Countries

Education for children refugees in developing countries also faces structural issues. The ability to enroll in school and continue one's studies is limited and uneven across regions and settings of displacement, particularly for young girls and at the secondary levels. There is limited access to post-primary education for refugees in both camp and urban settings, which has negative economic and social consequences for individuals and societies. Many refugee children face external circumstances that interrupt their primary education, but secondary education is only accessible to young refugees who complete primary school. Also, the availability of sufficient classrooms and teachers is low and many discriminatory policies and practices prohibit refugee children from attending school.

Residence

Refugee children who live in large urban centers in North America have a higher rate of success at school given that their families have access to additional social services that can help address their specific needs. Families who are unable to move to urban centers are at a disadvantage.

Language Barriers and Ethnicity

Acculturation stress occurs in North America when families expect refugee youth to remain loyal to ethnic values while mastering the host culture in school and social activities. In response to this demand, children may over-identify with their host culture, their culture of origin, or become marginalized from both. Insufficient communication due to language and cultural barriers may evoke a sense of alienation or "being the other" in a new society. The clash between cultural values of the family and popular culture in mainstream Western society leads to the alienation of refugee children from their home culture.

Many Western schools do not address diversity among ethnic groups from the same nation or provide resources for specific needs of different cultures (such as including halal food in the school menu). Without successfully negotiating cultural differences in the classroom, refugee children experience social exclusion in their new host culture. Ethnicity can be a positive influential factor in determining educational success among refugee children in Western school systems. A higher number of Yugoslavian children in the Canadian school system continue onto post-secondary education than any other ethnicity. The Yugoslavian children may be more comfortable with the English language and Western school systems. Discrimination still exists in the North American school system, so Yugoslavian children who are white may have an unfair advantage. The presence of racial and ethnic discrimination can have an adverse effect on the well-being of certain groups of children and lead to a reduction in their overall school performance.

Other Obstacles

Even though refugee students value education as an agent for change, they may not find success in school. Other obstacles may include:

• Disrupted schooling - refugee children may experience disruptive schooling in their country of origin or an absence of schooling altogether. It is extremely difficult for a student with no previous education to enter into a school full of educated children.
• Trauma - can impede the ability to learn and cause fear of people in positions of authority (such as teachers and principals)
• School drop outs - due to self-perceptions of academic ability, antisocial behaviour, rejection from peers and/or a lack of educational preparation prior to entering the host-country school. School drop outs may also be caused by unsafe school conditions, poverty, etc.
• Parents - when parental involvement and support is lacking, a child’s academic success decreases substantially. Refugee parents are often unable to help their children with homework due to language barriers. Parents often do not understand the concept of parent-teacher meetings and/or never expect to be a part of their child’s education due to preexisting cultural beliefs.
• Assimilation - a refugee child’s attempt to quickly assimilate into the culture of their school can cause alienation from their parents and country of origin, creating barriers and tension between the parent and child.
• Social and individual rejection - hostile discrimination can cause additional trauma when refugee children and treated cruelly by their peers
• Identity confusion
• Behavioral Issues - caused by the adjustment issues and survival behaviours learned in refugee camps

Developments

Role of Teachers

North American schools are agents of acculturation and help refugee children to become “absorbed” into Western society. Successful educators help children process trauma they may have experienced in their country of origin while supporting their academic adjustment. Refugee children benefit from established and encouraged communication between student and teacher, and also between different students in the classroom. Teachers encourage communication through counseling and activities such as art and dancing that allow children to express emotion. When educators learn basic greetings (such as “hi” or “thank-you”) in refugee children's native language this gives the children an additional level of comfort and safety. Familiarity with sign language and basic ESL strategies improves communication between teachers and refugee children. Also, non-refugee peers need access to literature that helps educate them on their refugee classmates experiences. Course materials should be appropriate for the specific learning needs of refugee children and provide for a wide range of skills in order to give refugee children strong academic support. Close collaboration with administration within Western school systems is also essential regarding testing and grading policies.

Classroom Environment

Globally, refugee children thrive in classroom environments of social inclusion where all students are valued. The school social environment is crucial for the positive reinforcement of belonging and fostering the ability to participate and contribute to society. A sense of belonging and ability to flourish and become part of the new host society are all factors that predict the well-being of refugee children in academics. A study of 76 Somali adolescents who have resettled in the United States indicates that a greater sense of school belonging (i.e. commitment or involvement within the school) has proven to be connected with lower rates of depression but has not been linked to dealing with the adverse effects of PTSD (as this is linked so closely with their pre-migration trauma). Increased school involvement and social interaction between students could help refugee children combat depression and/or other underlying mental health concerns that emerge during the post-migration period.

Parent - Teacher Relationship

Educators should spend time with refugee families discussing previous experiences of the child in order to place the refugee child in the correct grade level and to provide any necessary accommodations Meaningful relationships between refugee families and educators improve the academic success of refugee children. School policies, expectations, and parent's rights should be translated into the parent's native language since many parents do not speak English proficiently. Also, teachers cannot assume parents are not interested in their children's education if they do not attend school functions. Educators need to understand the multiple demands placed on parents (such as work and family care) and be prepared to offer flexibility in meeting times with these families.

Supporting the Academic Adjustment of Refugee Children

Teachers can make the transition to a new school easier for refugee children by providing translators. Schools are also the best positioned institutions for mental health prevention and treatment programs for refugee children in North America. Schools meet the psychosocial needs of children affected by war or displacement through programs that provide avenues for emotional expression, personal support, and opportunities to enhance their understanding of their past experience. Teachers should work with school administration to create specific policy plans for refugee children. Refugee children will benefit from a case-by-case approach to learning, because every child has had a different experience during their resettlement. Communities where refugee populations are higher should work with the schools to initiate after school, summer school, or weekend clubs that give the children more opportunities to adjust to their new educational setting.

bicultural integration is the most effective mode of acculturation for refugee adolescents in North America. It is important to provide bilingual education and cultural training for teachers as well as intercultural activities for U.S. born and refugee students. Additionally, the staff of the school must understand students in a community context and respect cultural differences. Providing a welcoming atmosphere for refugee students helps prevent feelings of isolation that he or she may encounter. Parental support, refugee peer support, and welcoming refugee youth centers are successful in keeping refugee children in school for longer periods of time. Education about the refugee experience in North American also helps teachers relate better with refugee children and undertand the traumas and issues a refugee child may have experienced.

Case Study

Vietnamese Refugees

Most of these refugees have minimal formal education and little English proficiency. Upon arrival in the US, Vietnamese households are usually large including minor children, married children, grandchildren, other relatives and non-relatives.

Vietnamese children face many problems within their schools and are affected by the backgrounds of schoolmates alongside their own backgrounds. These differentiations in backgrounds and cultures place them at a higher risk of pursuing disruptive behaviour. Contemporary Vietnamese American adolescents are prone to greater uncertainties, self-doubts and emotional difficulties than other American adolescents. Vietnamese children are less likely to say they have much to be proud of, that they like themselves as they are, that they have many good qualities, and that they feel socially accepted.

Despite these issues and the fact that Vietnamese children attend urban public schools that many middle-class families have abandoned, they are making significant progress in education. Vietnamese adolescents are less likely than their American peers to drop out of high school, and Vietnamese young adults were more likely than their American peers to attend college.

External links

• [1] Educational handbook to help parents better prepare for a child’s education.