Parenting in a New Land: Specialized Services for Immigrant and Refugee Families in the USA

This practice-based research study examines a US-based preventive services program tailored to immigrant and refugee families that have been subject to a Child Protective Services report. The model is the result of a collaboration between an immigrant serving community-based agency and a county department of child welfare services in a medium-sized city that has become a hub for refugee resettlement. A clinical data mining approach was used in an intensive examination of 15 families’ case records. This paper identifies family characteristics, service needs, and strength-based practices that emerged, offering recommendations for child welfare agencies and practitioners in other jurisdictions seeking to design strategies to strengthen their services for immigrant and refugee communities.