Working with children with refugee related trauma Presented by Cherie Lamb

1. Working with children with refugee-related
trauma: An ecological approach
Cherie Lamb - Working with children with refugee-related trauma: An ecological approach 130/06/2018
clamb2@myune.edu.au
Cherie Lamb
School of Education
C & K
Early Education & Care Conference
30 June 2018

2. The social & policy context
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➢ Participation in quality ECEC
programs is important
➢ Refugees are missing out
➢ The risks of social & cultural
exclusion are costly and
multifaceted

3. An asylum seeker is a person who has sought
protection as a refugee, but whose claim for
refugee status has not yet been assessed.
Seeking asylum is a legal human right
UNHCR, 1951
Over 90% or asylum seekers are found to be
refugees, but asylum seekers entering
Australia are subject to mandatory detention
RCOA, 2017
Refugees are people who are outside their
country of origin but unable to seek protection
from, or return to their country, due to a well-
founded fear of persecution based on racial,
religious, ethnic or political discrimination.
UNHCR, 1951
Migrants are people who chose to leave their country of origin to settle in another country.
They may return to their country of origin at any time. RCOA, 2017
Migrants, refugees & asylum seekers
Cherie Lamb – Working with children with refugee-related trauma: An ecological approach
Picture Source: East African landscapes

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Number of forcibly displaced people worldwide:
65.6 million (up from 51.2 million in 2015)
22.5 million registered refugees
Highest number ever recorded in human history
(1 in every 113 people on the planet)
More than 50% of forcibly displaced people are children Picture Source:
Amnesty International
Facts about refugees

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17,555 refugee & humanitarian visas issued in Aust. in 2015-16 DIBP, 2016
Refugees only 8.5% of the 207,325 permanent migrants in 2015-16 DIBP, 2016
854,390 refugees settled in Australia since 1901 DIBP, 2016
Migration - largest contributor to population growth in Qld. ABS, 2017
➢ 2011 - 2016 almost 9,000 new humanitarian entrants settled in Qld. DSS, 2016
Refugees in Australia & Queensland

6. Research questions
➢ What barriers do families with refugee experience encounter
when accessing and participating in early childhood education
programs in Queensland?
➢ What strategies do educators and support workers implement
to include children from refugee backgrounds?
➢ How well do these strategies work to facilitate participation?
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7. Methodology
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• Qualitative research - listening to people from within their own cultural frameworks and world views
• Purposive Sampling - recruited refugees and people who worked with refugees
• Data collection - interviews, focus groups, field notes, public documents (policies, reports)
• Constructivist Grounded Theory Charmaz, 2014
➢ Good fit for social justice research
➢ Researcher maintains the participants’ presence by communicating through their words and stories
➢ Theory is co-constructed through participant interpretation of their own experience & researcher
understanding
➢ To examine multiple realities
• Cultural Support Workers - interpreting + gaining informed consent
‘There is no word for ‘research’ in Sudanese’ Atem , 2017.

8. Refugee children are
casualties of war
Picture Source: Through the eyes of a child: refugee children speak about violence 2005-2007, UNHCR
The casualties of war prior to the 21st century were predominantly soldiers
BUT THE NATURE OF WARFARE HAS CHANGED
➢ 80% of casualties of war are now civilians
➢ 80% of those casualties are now children Lloyd & Penn, 2010
Cherie Lamb - Working with children with refugee-related trauma: An ecological approach 830/06/2018
Children have often
witnessed torture & other
atrocities in their country
of origin, followed by long
periods of deprivation in
refugee camps or
detention centres.
Australian-born
children of parents
who have witnessed
war can also suffer
from refugee-related
trauma.

9. Cherie Lamb - Working with children with refugee-related trauma: An ecological approach 9
Children are sometimes perpetrators
as well as victims of violence.
“We can't have this child
anymore because of the
behavioural problems.
He’s too disruptive.
The other children are
scared of him”
(Educator)
Child as perpetrator
30/06/2018
Picture Source: Through the eyes of a child:
refugee children speak about violence 2005-
2007, UNHCR

10. Cherie Lamb - Working with children with refugee-related trauma: An ecological approach
10
Strategies employed by educator
Built trust and rapport with family ➢ Learned about a child’s background, culture & traditions
➢ Negotiated solutions in partnership with parents over time
Collective & teamwork approaches ➢ Planed with: Lead Educator; Wellbeing Officers; Inclusion Support
Facilitators; Bilingual/Bicultural Workers
One–on-one worker to child ratio ➢ Engaged Additional Needs Assistants
➢ Additional observation and planning
Advocated on behalf of parents with
professionals
➢ Psychological and medical assessments on site. Engaged QPASTT;
MDA; ACCESS; Multilink; Inclusion Support Team; Noah’s Ark
Built upon child’s strengths ➢ Scaffolded learning
What else could the educator have done?
Working through accredited interpreters ➢ Older children and relatives are not appropriate – skews power
balance in families
Inviting the child’s parent/guardian to stay ➢ Involve parents in children’s activities
➢ Engage parents as experts about their child and their culture
Embed diversity into programming ➢ Include a child’s unique cultural perspective in classroom activities
Strategies used by educator
30/06/2018

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Improving
Kindergarten
& ECEC
participation
for refugees
Collect
'refugee'
data in
ECEC
Free
universal
kindergarten
Cultural
competence &
trauma
training &
support for
educators
Employ
bilingual
'culture
brokers'
Fund &
mandate
interpreter
usage
Fund &
mandate
translation
of enrolment
forms
Multicultural
playgroups
in
kindergarten
Financial
support for
transport &
supplies
Stronger links
between ECEC
& support
services
Fund English
tuition in
Kindergarten
© C.S.Lamb 2018
Tregear Public
School
Western
Sydney
SMH, 2014
Kindy is free in
ACT, NT, SA &
WA
raisingchildren.net.au
These
strategies are
used in
Victoria
VFST, 2016
These
worked for
PKG funded
agencies in
Brisbane
QCOSS, 2016
Improving ECEC participation in Qld:
Where to from here?

12. Activity: Developing psychosocial
indicator frameworks
Work in pairs or small groups
Think about a child you are concerned about
(Child does not have to be from a refugee background – but it is preferable)
1. Ecological Mapping
• Write what you know about the child for each part of their ‘system’.
2. Psychosocial Indicators Framework
• Write about what is going on for the child in each outcome domain.
• What do you need to do to gather further information about the child?
3. Strategies
• What strategies will you employ to work with this child and their family?
Discuss with your group and repeat the process for each group member
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