Abstract
Self-sufficiency is a concept commonly used to explore well-being and success of adult refugees. Yet, this concept has not been widely applied to the integration of young adult refugees and immigrants who arrive to the United States unaccompanied and who enter foster care. Therefore, this study meets a gap in the literature by investigating self-sufficiency for immigrants who have recently discharged from the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) foster care program in the US. We analyze an administrative dataset client outcomes (n = 417) collected at discharge from the URM program from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s network of URM programs across the United States. This study uses a path analysis model to examine direct paths between the outcome variable: self-sufficiency and a series of predictor variables including educational attainment, English proficiency level, and employment. Another hypothesis was that length of time spent in the URM program will indirectly influence self-sufficiency through improved English and educational attainment. Lastly, we posited that country of origin will indirectly influence self-sufficiency through educational attainment level. Findings show direct and positive relationships between employment and self-sufficiency; English proficiency and self-sufficiency; and greater educational attainment and self-sufficiency. Additionally, increased months in the URM foster care program positively influence self-sufficiency indirectly through both English proficiency and educational attainment. Results suggest that service providers should consider education, employment, and English language development in their casework with URMs to ensure the best chances of self-sufficiency as they enter adulthood. Additionally, the limitations of this administrative dataset illuminate specific ways in which the agency could improve data collection procedures, and future research.
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Data Availability
Data used for this paper are administrative data collected and owned by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Code Availability
Stata 14 SE and LISREL 9_20 Student Version were used for analysis.
Notes
Youth who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected; are residing in the US; are unmarried; are dependent in juvenile court; and are under 21 years of age may be eligible to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Classification through filing an I-360 Petition with USCIS. If this is approved, youth are eligible to enter the URM program, and may then be eligible for a green card in the US. Please see https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/sij for more information.
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I would like to thank Dr. Ce Shen from Boston College School of Social Work for his review of the initial draft of this paper as part of a class assignment.
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Evans, K., Crea, T.M., Chu, Y. et al. Paths to Self-Sufficiency for Youth Served Through the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Foster Care Program in the United States. Int. Migration & Integration 23, 1471–1493 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00900-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00900-7