Vulnerable Population Summary and Proposal
There are various Vulnerable Groups within the society such as Mothers and Children, people diagnosed with mental conditions, indigent and homes, immigrants and refugees among others. The groups are affected differently by various factors that include Age, gender, Culture/ Ethnicity and one’s income levels. In light of the above, this paper draws attention to how culture /Ethnicity, as well as the individual levels of income, affect the Immigrants and refugees. Besides the article will go further to analyze the intersection of the above factors to the social, political, and economic factors that affect this group.
An immigrant is viewed as a person who comes to another country to take up permanent residences. On their part, the refugees represent people who have been forced to leave their home country to avoid war, persecutions, natural disasters among others. Whichever the reason the two groups represent moving from a home country to another country. Once the emigrants move into the new nation such as the US, they are confronted with Culture and Ethnicity issues. The immigrants and refugees come from countries that have got different culture as that of their destination country. The US culture is different from that practiced say in a country such as Syria which is a source of Refugees to America. The immigrants have to renounce their culture and adapt to a new one. The language used in America is not similar to that in other countries. From the accent to the language itself it presents a challenge to the refugees and cannot be able to get services efficiently (Kirmayer. et al.). For example, if they go to a health facility one cannot express himself effectively since the health care professional may not be speaking their native language.
Ethnicity and cultural issues affect their social life where the refugees cannot socialize freely with the other members of the society. The immigrants and refugees are not allowed to participate in the political activities of the host country despite the length of time they may have stayed there. On the other hand, the immigrants do not enjoy all the economic activities as their counterparts. For instance, it takes a long time before these vulnerable groups are issued with work permits and allow them to run business in the host country.
Income is another issue that affects the refugees and immigrants. On the onset, these vulnerable groups come from countries that are not economically stable. The refugees and immigrants do not get opportunities to pick their belongings as they move to the new nations there are instances where all their properties are looted. Once in a new country such as the US, they are not given the opportunity to utilize their talents to raise income for their survival.
Lack of income affects the refugees and immigrant’s socially where they cannot be able to interact and utilize the social opportunities such as gong to entertainment sites. They are classified economically as lower-class people. Their income status cannot enable them to compete for any political opportunities in the new country. There are instances where they may like to have a political voice in their home country though that cannot be attained since they do not have sufficient income (Yakushko, Watson, & Thompson, 2008). Lack of income prevents the immigrants and refugees from competing and taking up viable economic activities.
Draft Model Program
As mentioned above the refugees and immigrants face issues related to income that make them not to enjoy Social, Political and other Economic aspects of the community. One of the major challenges that they face is how to handle various legal challenges that they face such as registration and obtaining their social numbers to enable them work. Obtaining necessary documents such as ID, registration to the countries professional bodies is a problem to this group of people. On that note, the program will focus on providing legal services to this vulnerable group of people
Once they are provided with the legal services, they will be able to carry out other functions that are required for their healthy living. Through legalizing their legal status in the country, it will be possible for the program coordinators to provide them with services depending on their identified problem. For example, the elderly within this group will be taken to the old homes or provided care that is similar to that for the American Citizens. Taking care of the elderly among the immigrants and those with other psychological problems for instance trauma as result of the experiences they have undergone within their home countries will be an effective long-term health care measures.
The program will introduce them to counseling centers to counsel them on the various social problems that they face while they are in the home new country. It will be possible to refer them to such institutions since all these services require documentation that they will be provided through the legal services offered by the proposed program model. In the event, they wronged within the US the program will be useful in helping them get legal redress (Stewart et al.). Ideally, refugees and Immigrants do face various challenges; all the same, the problems are contributed by their legal status that the program model will solve.
References
Kirmayer, L. J., Narasiah, L., Munoz, M., Rashid, M., Ryder, A. G., Guzder, J., ... & Pottie, K. (2011). Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general approach in primary care. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 183(12), E959-E967.
Yakushko, O., Watson, M., & Thompson, S. (2008). Stress and coping in the lives of recent immigrants and refugees: Considerations for counseling. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 30(3), 167.
Stewart, M., Anderson, J., Beiser, M., Mwakarimba, E., Neufeld, A., Simich, L., & Spitzer, D. (2008). Multicultural meanings of social support among immigrants and refugees. International Migration, 46(3), 123-159.