Social Connections and Community Engagement Trends Among Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Exiting Foster Care

The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. The Unaccompanied refugee minor program has been serving thousands of youth annually since the 1970s and yet there is still a dearth of research and some apprehension of how to assist these vulnerable children in making friends and supportive relationships in the US. Social ties, social support networks, and engagement in the local/ immigrant community have all been shown to help ease the transition to the United States and improve mental health well being for immigrants. A national refugee resettlement agency sent surveys to all the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors who had existed foster care program three to 15 months prior to assess their social connections and community engagement after the program ended. Thirty youth replied and results show that living arrangements varied among participants, social engagement in the community was present for most of the young adults, relationships were an aspect of social support, and reliance on public benefits was relatively low among respondents. There are implications for caseworkers in terms of case planning to help ensure youth are connected before they leave the program, and future recommendations for more in-depth research are included.