Objectives
Unaccompanied minors immigrating to America face a number of challenges. Reunification with parents and family members can be emotionally difficult and may require professional assistance. Family therapy approaches offer the potential to enhance the process of reunification and can be developed specifically for that purpose.
Methods
This presentation will discuss methods of assisting reconnection and reunification in these families. Reunification support must be culturally acceptable and centered on honest openness about the stresses of the experience for the child. The therapist must be relentlessly compassionate and accepting. Family therapy techniques to diminish defensiveness, explore attachments, and repair wounds of disconnection will be presented. Effective use of translators and other cultural navigators will be discussed. The challenge of responding to children’s unacceptable behaviors while preventing further disconnection and alienation will also be presented.
Results
Reunification with family members poses many challenges. The entire family may be overwhelmed by their immigrant experience. They may experience discrimination and racism as immigrants. The children also experience the challenges of learning the language and attending school. Often times, there is a mismatch between the children’s experience of abandonment and fear and parent’s relief at reunification. Altogether, they must deal with the relocation experience, the traumas they experienced prior to relocation, and learn to help each other with their shared pain and stress. The family as a whole must deal with the pressures to acculturate and the parents with children’s socially unacceptable survival strategies and behaviors. Relational treatment, including involved family members, can reduce the challenge of reunifying unaccompanied minors with family members after their immigration into the United States. Specific family therapy techniques can be used to assist with repairing family relations.
Conclusions
Attending to the connections between unaccompanied minors and family members, dealing with children’s experience of abandonment and fear and rebuilding attachments among family members, can significantly enhance the reunification process and children’s overall adaptation and well-being.