CILA is excited to announce that our social work program has completed a new resource and it was recently added to our website. Navigating Reunification Challenges: A Toolkit for Sponsors of Unaccompanied Minors is now available in English and Spanish.
The toolkit was prepared to support sponsors (parents and non-parents alike), both before reunification takes place and once they are living with the child. Reunification can bring much joy, but it can also evoke fears and concerns when unexpected challenges such as behavioral or mental health concerns arise.
During a time of great transition for both the sponsor and the child, we hope this toolkit can help sponsors recognize challenges, talk about them with the child, and seek out support when needed. The toolkit includes practical tips and activities, and also offers additional resources on specific challenges.
We hope that you will find it to be a useful resource in your work and share it with as many sponsors as you can! Should you have any thoughts about materials that should be added to future editions of the toolkit, they are welcome. You can reach out to marissa.barrera@abacila.org. A special thanks to Hannah Gill, CILA’s first social work intern, for her hard work in helping to put together this resource.