Providing Culturally Sensitive Guidance on Caregiving Practices to Newcomers

Switchboard is pleased to announce an upcoming webinar open to all refugee service providers, at state agencies, resettlement agencies or affiliates, or other organizations. Please circulate this announcement widely among your colleagues!

Providing Culturally Sensitive Guidance on Caregiving Practices to Newcomers

Friday, July 19, 2024
1:00 – 2:15 PM EST

Note: Please use a time zone converter to determine your local time for this webinar.

What will this webinar cover?

During resettlement, newcomer caregivers face numerous challenges adjusting to their new cultural context, which can significantly affect their caregiving practices for children and youth. Although some families receive a brief cultural orientation upon arriving in the United States, further education on U.S. child welfare policies, positive parenting strategies, and parental rights and responsibilities is essential to prevent misunderstandings. Providers working with newcomer caregivers must understand the inherent difficulties of parenting in a new culture and approach caregiving topics with sensitivity. This webinar will address cultural adaptation barriers that impact parenting decisions, offer strengths-based and trauma-informed strategies for educating newcomer parents on their caregiving rights and responsibilities, and provide positive parenting recommendations.

Is this webinar for me?

This webinar is designed for direct service providers, school staff, and agency leaders who work with newcomer caregivers and families.

Why should I participate?

After participating in this 75-minute session, you will be able to:

• Identify common challenges faced by newcomer parents in the U.S. and explain how they affect parenting skills
• Describe the impacts of having culturally sensitive and strengths-based conversations about caregiving with newcomers
• Apply trauma-informed strategies when educating newcomer caregivers on U.S. child-rearing laws, norms, and behavior management

Speakers

Caroline Dilts, LICSW, is the Refugee Program Manager at the Research Program for Children and Adversity at the Boston College School of Social Work. She has over seven years of clinical social work experience working in home and community settings for children and families, with a specialization in trauma-informed care. Her current work focuses on strengthening resettled Afghan families through the Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees (FSI-R), an evidence-based mental health program.

Farhad Sharifi, MSW, is a recent Afghan evacuee who was initially at Camp Atterbury. He is a social worker and serves as a cultural expert in the Family Strengthening Intervention for Refugees project at the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at Boston College. Previously, he worked with internally displaced populations in Afghanistan with Jesuit Refugee Services.

Maliha Raza Khan, MA, is a nonprofit consultant with over 20 years of experience. She has consulted for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Bethany Christian Services, Samaritas, and the Muslim Foster Care Association in the resettlement of refugees. Previously, she served as Board Chair of the Kalamazoo County Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Council. Maliha currently serves as a Board Advisor for Kalamazoo Housing Advocates and writes grants for other nonprofits. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Clinical Psychology from Delhi University, India.

Audrey Montgomery, MSW, is a research associate focused primarily on the Research Program on Children and Adversity’s (RPCA) refugee portfolio. She holds a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on Global Social Work and Community Change from the University of Michigan. Audrey has experience working alongside newly arrived communities within refugee resettlement and health care settings.Audrey Montgomery, MSW, is a research associate focused primarily on the Research Program on Children and Adversity’s (RPCA) refugee portfolio. She holds a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on Global Social Work and Community Change from the University of Michigan. Audrey has experience working alongside newly arrived communities within refugee resettlement and health care settings.