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Reunification – en Español 

March 16, 2016

SCAN’s work with immigrant families in our Parent Education Program often involves the issue of reunification — when children and parents are reunited after long periods of time living apart in different countries.

Jessica Gutierrez Foster, one of SCAN’s Parent Education facilitators,  was recently interviewed for a special report on Univision covering unaccompanied immigrant youth and the challenges they face when they reunite with their parents who immigrated years before. Jessica discusses the Families Reunite workshops she has conducted to help parents gain perspective on their youth’s experiences and perspectives, while another facilitator works with the youth on coping with those challenges. The workshops conclude bringing parents and youth together to facilitate communication and understanding, all with the goal of building family cohesion that protects against the youths’ attraction to gangs, which often serve as an alternative “family” structure when they don’t feel accepted and supported within their reunified family.

Watch the first Univision segment (en Español) here:

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJg3e74xfQM]

 

Watch the second Univision segment (en Español) here:

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdffCzxvNgY]

 

For more information (in English + en Español), we invite you to visit our Parent Resource Center page on Reunification here.