Immigrant Families, Introductory Comments

Describing con?dentiality and its limits to the child and family.

Describing any other feature of interviewing and counseling .

Take a few minutes to think about the words you’d like to use when discussing these issues with children. Now, shift your focus and imagine how you might change your introductory comments depending on the ethnic or cultural background of a particular child. How would your introductory comments change if you were working with an American Indian, African American, Asian American, or Hispanic child and family? What issues do you think would rise to the surface and require a comment from you? If you have an ethnically diverse background, imagine the differences that might arise if you were working with a White child versus someone from your own background. Discuss these issues with your class or classmates.

Besides the fact that youth itself can be considered a culture, many young people in the United States have the challenging task of living in one culture at home and another at school and in their social lives.

One in ?ve children in the United States is a child of an immigrant . The stresses and strains of ?tting in are sometimes magni?ed by having parents or caretakers who speak a different language and have customs different from people at school and in the neighborhood. Interviewers should not make assumptions about immigrant families or young people. It can be quite harmful to ignore the potential intergenerational stress created by being immigrants. It can also be harmful to assume that the immigrant family is suffering because of the bicultural demands it faces. The challenges might make family life interesting, or they may be daunting and painful. The wise interviewer ?nds ways to assess this particular dynamic. You might make observations and ask gentle, opening questions such as: “I notice your mom is wearing a traditional H’mong skirt, Tu. But you’ve got on jeans and a T shirt. Do you dress traditional sometimes?” or “I notice your parents have a kind of cool accent. Do you guys speak Russian or English at home usually?” Making a few observations that are neutral or slightly positive and following that with a question about the young person’s cultural involvement communicates that you are willing to ask about and listen to the struggles and points of pride involved in being a family spanning two or more cultures.