Published on 2024-11-07 by nich0121
Welcome to Waiting for Refuge: Working With Undocumented & Asylum-Seeking Families, a new three-part podcast series that offers helpful considerations for Minnesota child welfare and county workers who may encounter families navigating the asylum process who are currently undocumented or have mixed documentation status within their family. The host is Will Carlson, a PhD Candidate at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work, whose work and research focuses on newcomer communities in Minnesota who are navigating resettlement. Child welfare professionals can benefit from these stories as they navigate increasingly complex family circumstances, working to ensure success and decrease harm.
Episode 1: Collaboration in Minnesota
Episode 2: Understanding Asylum
Asylum is complex and can take a long time. Episode two of this three-part series does a deeper dive into the process of asylum in the United States. Hear about the different types of asylum, the requirements, and the challenges of legally acquiring status, as well as the avenues of support that are available for families. You'll hear from immigration attorney Sarah Brenes (Binger Center for New Americans, University of Minnesota Law School) about how the complexities of the asylum process can impact asylum-seeking families, the history of and recent changes to these processes, and what this means for child welfare professionals who work with these families.
Episode 3: Considerations for Practice
Seeking asylum is an act of resilience and protection. This final episode of the three-part series focuses on the implications for direct practice social work with families who are seeking or navigating asylum. Amy Smith, Clinical Faculty and Director of Social Work Services at the Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services at the University of St. Thomas and Liz Franklin, Director of Behavioral Health at Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES), discuss how to join with families as a social worker, considerations for establishing and sustaining trust, contextualizing care, navigating benefits eligibility, and sustaining yourself as a social work practitioner.