A Case of a New Immigrant
Imagine that you are an immigrant arriving in a new country. Perhaps you are escaping persecution, famine, or war, or simply pursuing a better life. Perhaps you are detained at the border. You do not have any support networks in this new country, or if you do, they are distant relations. You do not know how the legal system works. You may not know the official language. What would you need? Where would you go?
Social workers are positioned to support new immigrants in their access to services, navigation of systems and policies, and mental and physical health. They must demonstrate cultural humility by, for example, integrating questions related to cultural formulation into their interviews and assessments.
In this Discussion, you research a global or displaced population and create a scenario in which a member of that population immigrates to the United States. You then respond to a colleague’s case scenario by describing how you would engage with the immigrant client as a social worker.
To Prepare
Review the American Psychiatric Association’s information on cultural formulation, as well as the Think Cultural Health video showing the cultural formulation interview in practice.
Identify and research a global or displaced population to focus on for this Discussion. Imagine that a member of this population immigrates to the United States. What strengths and challenges might they have? Develop a brief case scenario describing the immigrant’s experience.
By Day 3
Post your original case scenario involving a new immigrant to the United States. In your scenario:
Identify the country of origin, language(s) spoken, and any employment, housing, legal, or family concerns of the individual.
Describe strengths and challenges related to their arrival and experience of American culture.
Sample Solution
In 1886, the year the statue was dedicated, 334,203 immigrants entered the country. “Irishmen, Poles, Italians, Czechs, Germans freed from tyranny or want—all acclaim the monument of Liberty because to them it appears to incarnate their own elevation,” wrote Jose Marti, a revolutionary from Cuba.
The majority of the immigrants who would see the statue would be from eastern and southern Europe.
A century later, only 8% of Americans were born outside of the country, down from 14% in 1900. Passports weren’t required, and steerage on a trip across the Atlantic cost only $10. After the Civil War, the number of European immigrants to the United States significantly rose, reaching 5.2 million in the 1880s before soaring to
