Why
is there a clearinghouse on refugee youth and child well-being?
The
BRYCS clearinghouse offers agencies access to information
on refugee child and family realities, as well as the other
service systems helping refugees, in order to support and
strengthen services to refugee youth, children and their families.
Our goals are to develop a common knowledge base and national
institutional memory on refugee family issues, bridge an existing
disconnect between social services, and thus help agencies
break the cycle of “recreating the wheel.” For
more details on these areas of need, see our information on
the social service context
for refugee families. The clearinghouse is part of BRYCS’
integrated response to these needs.
In the current environment of budget cuts and competition
for resources, the clearinghouse seeks to make information-sharing
and collaboration between agencies more efficient and effective.
Positive changes over the past 25 years make this task easier,
including:
-
an increase in local programs focused on refugee youth,
children and families;
-
child welfare approaches that reinforce the importance of
cultural competence, as well as family-centered and community
based practice;
- federal
policy guidance regarding services to clients with limited
English proficiency; and
-
wide public use of the Internet as a means of gathering
information and connecting to resources.
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