Introduction reflection

1. Running head: REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 1
Reflection: Refugee Resettlement K-12
Rekha Thapa Chhetri
Intro Reflection
EXPL 390 – Internship Seminar: Social Justice Internship Grant Program
Spring Semester 2018

2. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 2
A semester-long experience with the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement K-12
Program provided me with an opportunity to understand some social issues that greatly impact
marginalized populations and their children. At my internship site, I often interact with new
arrivals and see them going through many challenges as they assimilate within the U.S culture.
My organization has a goal to make its clients self-sufficient within 90 days of arrival. This
means the refugee families must learn English, find jobs, sign up for healthcare, enroll their
children in school, navigate cities, and both understand and assimilate into the U.S. culture. Each
of these processes mentioned above includes thousands of steps and challenges.
As a K-12 intern my main role is to help refugee children and their parents to integrate
into the U.S. education system. I find this work rewarding as well as challenging. I feel thrilled
to see that my clients give a huge importance to education and that they perceive it as a tool to
succeed. Although access to school is granted in the U.S, it is a privilege for these refugee
families. I feel honored assisting these families in enrolling their children in schools. However, I
feel disappointed when I witness many of our clients not getting the same level of care or support
as other American students, or they do not receive the necessary services. In addition, I have
found many cases from the past where many refugee children were excluded from receiving
developmental evaluation processes to identify if they have any learning disabilities, which
would provide those children with additional assistance to their academic path. Through those
case notes, I also found the common reason for excluding these children from such assessment is
their English-language deficiency. There are many factors which result in such educational
condition for refugee children, such as budgetary limitations, which restrict the accessibility of
language interpreters, or a lack of culturally-competent staff to notice issues with or know how to

3. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 3
help refugee children. As a result, refugee children are unable to access the few resources that are
available through the public education system.
Analyzing those case notes, I found that personal interpretation of Chicago Public School
teachers and other staff who are supposed to alert families to student issues, often avoid refugee
children’s cases, assuming most of the challenges these children face are due to their language
barrier. As a result, many of these refugee children did not get opportunities to see psychologists
or related people to process their evaluations. I totally understand that lack of language
proficiency is not a disability, but these educated people easily ignored the fact that a learning
disability can co-occur with language deficiency, particularly when it comes to refugee children
from under-developed countries. While reading Palmer (2007), I also thought about the
avoidance of refugee children by CPS staff and wondered – does education instill enough value
of all of humanity? If so, why do educated people tend to ignore or avoid the most vulnerable or
those in most need of a quality education?
Regardless of their English language proficiency, access to be evaluated for their
disabilities should be a right to everyone; it is currently a privilege for only those who can speak
English, an invisible package of unearned assets which only English-speaking families can count
on in need (McIntosh, 1988). Although U.S. public schools receive funding from the government
to have additional support to students in need, schools cannot arrange the tools to access non-
English-speaking children, which restrict non-English speaking children in the U.S from many
necessary aids. For me, this is injustice.
As an intern, there are very limited actions I can take in this regard, and I am not at all
required to intervene in such a situation, but I am not banned from sharing my input to improve
it. As we discussed in our “Justice Circle” a few months ago about our role to make a just society

4. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 4
and our needs, obligations, and necessary engagement to create the world we desire, I realized
that my commitment to become a service provider cannot be completed without stepping into
this issue. As suggested in Loeb (2010), I decided to take this experience as an attempt to
establish a foundation to cultivate a just society. I realized that it was necessary to educate our
adult clients about possible learning disabilities, such as speech problems. I suggested to my
supervisor that we educate refugee parents about what learning disabilities are and how they
impact their children’s education. I also suggested updating the agency’s refugee intake form
based on the refugee families’ needs and backgrounds. In addition, applying my course
knowledge, I offered to include an area in the form which would identify children’s history and
incidences of being exposed to violence (in most cases all of them tend to have this experience).
Having this information documented would increase the opportunity for refugee children to
receive approval for assessments. Unlike the situation of the medical resident mentioned in our
assigned reading where she was dealing with life, death, and her career, I did not have to be
worried about whether my input would harm someone, and I was not under pressure to take the
responsibility (Palmer, 2007). However, I became frustrated knowing that many U.S.
organizations handle school-aged children without adequate resources. I became more
unsatisfied that professionals ignore these problems, but also lack the competency they need to
serve the population who look different than general U.S children. I strongly believe that
agencies or institutions that deal with children should provide or hold the resources to deliver
necessary care. Furthermore, professionals should have the knowledge and skills to serve all
types of people, particularly if they oversee a group of school-aged children. Doing this would
lift marginalized children’s dignities, and the agency will fulfill its ethical standard.

5. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 5
A just society, in my view, contains people in every profession with competencies to
appreciate and serve people from all backgrounds. A just society must serve all races, genders,
nationalities, colors, casts, or anything that we can name with dignity and equity. A just society
is on in which people are willing to work for the well-being of others rather than blame one
another for the ways in which life is not going well. A just society has a culture of respect, not
domination and biases. The culture of domination justifies inequalities, like when CPS does not
acknowledge not having resources for all children in the system but instead blames refugee
children for not knowing enough English to better fit within the system. After all, as Gaw wisely
stated, “culture shapes and affects the very essences of how clinical work is done.” I totally agree
with this concept that our culture and our surrounding shape our thinking. When I view my
client’s situations through this lens, it is somewhat easier for me to understand why they are
treated this way; if culture shapes and affects how clinical work is done, one would have issues
providing services to someone from a culture with which one has never interacted.
In the second semester of my internship, I will continue to challenge myself to stay
focused and identify intended or unintended acts that tend to restrict refugee children from
receiving the services which natural-born Americans receive with more ease. Working at
Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement K-12 Program helped me solidify some of my future
goals. Similarly, to many of my refugee clients, I also agree that education is the tool that will
help improve the lives of many marinized groups in the U.S. However, the education that they
receive must be a quality education, and all children should equally receive the additional
support they need. I also realize that for marginalized populations to receive better treatments,
service providers also need to be culturally (race, gender, socioeconomic status, language, and so
on) competent to serve a variety of students. The experience I am gaining through this work is

6. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 6
preparing me for my future work. Being a Psychology as well as a Social Justice student, I aspire
to contribute my knowledge to bring about social changes. I think understanding current
professionals in the U.S. education system, where I found a gap between the fundamental
knowledge and skills that is needed to assist this population from a broader range, is an
important learning for my further career. In the future, I really want to address these issues, so
children from the marginalized groups are not required to compete with others while lacking the
tools to succeed.
References
Gaw, A. (1993). Culture, ethnicity, and mental illness. American Psychiatric Pub.
Loeb, P. (2010). Pieces of a vision. In Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in challenging
times (2nd ed., pp. 257-286). New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack.
Palmer, P. (2007, November-December). A new professional: The aims of education revisited.
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 6-12.
Criteria Exceeds Expectations Meets Expectations Does Not Meet/Partially
Meets Expectations
Points
Depth of
reflection
(30%)
Demonstratesa
consciousandthorough
considerationof the
assignedreadings,
personal experiences,
and the assignment
prompt.
Citesspecificexamples
frominternship
experience,class
discussions,orassigned
Demonstrates abasic
considerationof the
assignedreadings,
personal experiences,
and the assignment
prompt.
Citesvague examples
frominternship
experience,class
discussions,orassigned
Demonstrateslimitedorno
considerationof the assigned
readings,personal
experiences,orthe writing
prompt.
Citesnoexamplesfrom
internshipexperience,class
discussions,orassigned
readingstosupport
arguments.
30/30

7. REFLECTION: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT K-12 7
readingstosupport
arguments.
readingstosupport
arguments.
Responding to
Part 1 prompt
(30%)
Outlinesathorough
planfor the semester,
touchingonhow it
impactsintellectual,
emotional,andsocial
learning,aswell asits
impacton the
organization.
Outlinesabasicplanfor
the semester,touching
on how it impactstwoor
more of intellectual,
emotional,andsocial
learning,as well asits
impacton the
organization.
Doesnot outline aplanforthe
semesteroroutlinesaplan
but failstoincorporate the
differenttypesof learningand
the impact onthe
organization.
25/30
Responding to
Part 2 prompt
(30%)
Clearlyand thoroughly
describesownversionof
a “good society,”
incorporatingall
requiredcomponents:
personal values,
necessarysystemsor
structures,andpersonal
role init.
Describesownversionof
a “good society,”but
onlyincorporatestwoof
the required
components:personal
values,necessary
systemsorstructures,
and personal role init.
Describesownversionof a
“good society,”but
incorporatesone ornone of
the requiredcomponents:
personal values,necessary
systemsorstructures,and
personal role init.
29/30
Writing
quality
(10%)
Writingisengagingand
flowseasily,using
sophisticatedlanguage
and flawlessornear-
flawlessspellingand
grammar.
Writingissolidbutlacks
flow andhas multiple
grammar and/orspelling
mistakes.
Writingischoppy,sentence
structure isunvaried,and
numerousgrammarand/or
spellingmistakesexist.
7/10
Total 91