Challenges to parenting in a new culture: Implications for child and family welfare
Introduction
Parents who are refugees face significant additional challenges to those of mainstream Australian parents. Many of the factors associated with parenting difficulties in mainstream Australian families are also experienced by refugee parents (e.g., parental mental health problems, poverty, physical health problems, social isolation, children's behavioral problems) (Centre for Community Child Health, 2004). However, refugee parents face additional stresses associated with the experience of torture and trauma, changes to family roles, separation or death of family members, language difficulties and different cultural expectations about behavior (Gonsalves, 1992, Lamberg, 1996). Pre- and post-settlement experiences can exert considerable pressures on refugee parents and children that would be expected to lower parental levels of adaptability (e.g., parental flexibility, and parent's perceptiveness of and responsiveness to their children's needs) and to increase children's needs for such adaptability (Ambert, 1994, Azar and Cote, 2002, Centre for Community Child Health, 2004, Kotchik and Forehand, 2002, Rousseau et al., 2004, Sims and Omaji, 1999).
Increasingly, notifications of suspected abuse and neglect are being received by Australian child protection authorities for families from refugee backgrounds, particularly new arrivals from African and Middle Eastern countries. A recent study, undertaken by the current authors, found that the most common types of incidents resulting in notifications of refugee families to the South Australian child protection system were: (1) incidences of physical abuse, a number of which related to the practice of physical discipline by parents, (2) incidences of neglect, primarily arising from children being left alone without adult supervision and occurring primarily in large, single mother headed, households, and (3) exposure of children to domestic violence incidents. Eight percent of these notifications were substantiated and related to families experiencing multiple stressors.
A critical aspect of successful refugee resettlement is the availability of services including health, mental health, housing, employment and parenting support. While most refugee families have access to these services they are inevitably tailored to meet the needs of mainstream individuals and families. In particular the deeply significant role of family, community and culture in the lives of many refugees, often strengthened by shared experiences of upheaval and trauma is foreign to mainstream western culture and programs and policies tend not to take these factors into account (Garbarino et al., 1991, Levine, 2001, Walsh, 2002, Walsh, 2007). It is important therefore that service planning aimed at assisting refugee families to settle successfully into their new host country is underpinned by a good understanding of the unique experiences and needs of these families.
The aims of this paper are to (1) explore the challenges to being a refugee parent in Australia from the perspective of refugee parents and community members, and child protection practitioners; and (2) identify strategies and resources that may assist in prevention and early intervention in refugee families before statutory child protection becomes necessary. First, however, an overview of Australia's statutory child protection system and Refugee and Humanitarian Program is provided.
Section snippets
The Australian child protection system
Australia takes a “child protection orientation” to the protection of children, reflecting the approach of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. This approach is in contrast to countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, who take a “family service orientation” (Holzer, 2007). Each Australian state and territory government is responsible for managing and operating its own child protection service and this has resulted in eight separate systems for
Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program
Australia is one of a small number of countries that participate in resettlement programs and accept annual quotas of refugees (UNHCR, 2007) (refer Table 1). Australia's quota for 2007–2008 was 13,000 and in 2008–2009 is 13,500 (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2008).
Australia provides humanitarian resettlement for refugees under the Refugee and Humanitarian Program. Permanent refugee and humanitarian visas are available for people who have successfully applied to come to Australia
Methodology
Approval for the research project was obtained from Human Research Ethics Committee, University of South Australia and Research Development and Ethics Committee of the South Australian statutory child protection authority.
Challenges to parenting in a new culture
In relation to the first research question: ‘What are the challenges faced by refugees parenting in a new culture?’ three inter-related key themes were identified: (1) the changing roles and expectations for refugee children (particularly adolescents) and the perceived role of government agencies in this process; (2) tensions between Australian laws and cultural norms, and traditional cultural parenting beliefs and practices; and (3) supports in the parenting role and the wider community.
Discussion
The two aims of this paper were to: explore refugee parents’, community members’ and child protection practitioners’ perspectives of the challenges to being a refugee parent in Australia; and identify strategies and resources relevant to prevention and early intervention in refugee families before statutory child protection intervention becomes necessary. At the outset it is important to note that the goals of parenting are generally consistent across cultures and include keeping children safe
Limitations
While the research obtained valuable information from child protection practitioners and community members from refugee backgrounds, it important to note that the participants are not necessarily representative of all Child Protection practitioners or all community members. Far fewer responses were received from Child Protection District Centers that did not have refugee families identified on their caseloads (and indeed some Centers with refugee clients failed to respond due to heavy
Implications for service planning
A number of implications for service planning for refugee parents and other immigrant groups have been suggested by this research project. First it is important at the outset that planners acknowledge that western models of social work may not be the most appropriate way of working with refugee and immigrant parents. A major concern expressed by refugee parents in the current study was difficulty engaging with child protection agencies and other mainstream services because of a lack of cultural
Conclusion
Morland and colleagues (2005, p. 793) highlight the:
“potential for tragic consequences to newcomer refugee families when cultural differences, misunderstandings, language barriers, and a lack of cooperation exist between public child welfare, newcomer refugee families, and refugee-serving agencies”.
The principal finding from the current research is the critical significance of culturally competent service provision when working with refugee and immigrant families. This includes the development
Kerry Lewig holds a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology. Her recent research focus has been in the area of research utilisation by policy makers and practitioners in the child protection field and issues facing refugee families and challenges to their parenting in Australia.
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Kerry Lewig holds a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology. Her recent research focus has been in the area of research utilisation by policy makers and practitioners in the child protection field and issues facing refugee families and challenges to their parenting in Australia.
Dr. Fiona Arney is the Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. Fiona has over 10 years experience as a researcher in the areas of parenting support, child protection and child and adolescent mental health and well-being. She has a special interest in the development of programs and policy which recognises the specific needs of children from Indigenous and refugee backgrounds.
Mary Salveron holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) Degree and is currently undertaking her doctoral studies in psychology and child protection, focusing on facilitators and barriers to parental contact and visitation. She has also research interests in diffusion of innovations and child welfare work with refugee families.