Successful adaptation among Sudanese unaccompanied minors: Perspectives of youth and foster parents

Abstract

This study explores the adaptation of unaccompanied Sudanese refugee minors resettled in the US. Seven years after resettlement, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 Sudanese youths and 20 foster parents regarding factors that contributed to successful adaptation. The youths emphasized personal agency and staying focused on getting an education. Foster parents emphasized the contribution of youths' developmental histories to individual differences in personal attributes that, with contextual supports, influenced their trajectories after resettlement. Parents and youths differed in their views on the role that mental health and cultural obligations to family members in Africa played in successful adaptation.Children who immigrate to a new country with their families experience many challenges (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2006). Among these are adjusting to a new culture, often learning a new language, adapting to unfamiliar schools, forming new peer relationships and rethinking their identity and roles. Refugee children face additional challenges related to their war experiences and exposure to trauma (Lustig et al., 2004;Shaw, 2003), and unaccompanied minors, who resettle without their parents, are a small but particularly vulnerable group of refugee children. In the US, they are resettled in foster families and receive help until the age of 21 or sometimes 23. This study focuses on Sudanese unaccompanied minors, known in the media as the Lost Boys of Sudan, and addresses the research question: What factors contribute to individual differences in adaptation among these youths following resettlement? Of particular interest are factors related to successful adaptation.

The negotiation of culture in foster care placements for separated refugee and asylum seeking young people in Ireland and England

“…Over a period of time, hostels were closed and separated children, including 16-and 17-year-olds, were placed in residential centres for several months upon arrival in Ireland, before being transferred to foster care and supported lodgings. 2 There is some discussion of foster care within research on separated minors (Chase et al, 2008;Luster et al, 2010;Wade et al, 2005). However, Study A (Wade et al, 2012) and Study B (Ní Raghallaigh, 2013a) are the first in-depth studies in England and Ireland which respectively focus specifically on foster care for this group of young people.…”

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: Whose perspective?

“…What these internal resources are and in what ways these children cope are not investigated, which would suggest that research on unaccompanied children may tend to be concentrated on their vulnerability rather than on their own resources and agency. However, there is some research that explores coping strategies among unaccompanied children in the UK (Chase et al, 2008) and among Sudanese refugee boys in the US (Goodman, 2004;Luster et al, 2010). Both studies on Sudanese refugee boys adopt a resilience framework.…”

“…Furthermore, some participants in Wallin and Ahlström's study stated that they felt lonely and some of them suffered from depression and PTSD. Drawing on the perspectives of Sudanese refugee boys living in the US and of their foster parents, Luster et al (2010) show how successful adap tion is linked with education and school performance as well as balancing life adaption in the host country with maintaining connections with Sudan. Eide's (2000) Norwegian study also focused upon school performance, together with occupation, among other issues.…”

“…This is considered important, yet has not been explored to any great extent. However, there are a few follow-up studies that investigate these issues using qualitative methods (Hessle, 2009;Luster et al, 2010;Wallin and Ahlström, 2005) or a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods (Eide, 2000). None of these studies are entirely concentrated on emotional health, but rather on the young person's life situations and successful adaption in a wider perspective The findings from the two Swedish studies (Hessle, 2009;Wallin and Ahlström, 2005) show that most of the research participants felt content with their life situations in the host country, and had begun adapting to their new life.…”

Applying the ADAPT Psychosocial Model to War-Affected Children and Adolescents

“…Both assimilation and marginalization seem to equally endanger adolescents' ability to become group members and, consequently, their ability to develop a stable identity (Kovacev & Shute, 2004). In a study by Luster, Qin, Bates, Rana, and Lee (2010), interviews focusing on factors that contributed to successful adaptation among Sudanese unaccompanied refugees were conducted, 7 years after their settling in the United States. Participants cited their ability to have an integration approach to acculturation, by combining the best of their Sudanese culture with the best of American culture, as one of the reasons for their successful adjustment.…”