Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program

Lutheran Social Service of New England identifies refugees as among the earth’s needy populations and affirms our call to welcome and offer aid to the stranger in our midst by providing new Americans with the resources they need to adjust to their new culture and become self-sufficient and productive citizens.

Lutheran Social Services to Refugees continues the Lutheran tradition of caring for the strangers among us. We are part of a national network of voluntary organizations working in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to resettle refugees. Our professional staff and volunteers provide refugees with the basic services to enable them to achieve economic self-sufficiency in their new homeland.

Lutheran Social Services strives to provide an opportunity for each refugee and immigrant to create a new life, a life not only free from persecution and violence, but also built on hope and fulfillment. As an organization we do our very best to remain committed to this goal.

Description:
The Lutheran Social Services Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program provides foster home care and supportive case management services to refugee children and teens who have fled their homelands because of war and persecution. These young people have been separated from their families and are classified while in resettlement camps as "unaccompanied refugee minors" who are in need of care and protection. Referrals are made through the national headquarters of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Child welfare services are overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services.

History:
Since its inception in 1980, the Lutheran Social Services Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program has cared for more than 240 refugee children from Southeast Asia, Central America, Africa, Haiti and Cuba.

Foster families, often of the child's own ethnic background, have joined in partnership with the multi-cultural staff to provide the care and support necessary for these young people to become self-sufficient adults in their new country.

In 2000 and 2001, Lutheran Social Services resettled 40 of the "lost children of Sudan" in the greater Boston area. Lutheran Social Services employs staff whose sole focus is the cultivation of sponsors and volunteers to help refugees cope successfully with the enormous needs and challenges they face when they first arrive in their new homeland.

Contact people:

Catharine (Cat) Landrigan, Social Worker, (508) 791-4488 x19, (email) Melissa DeJesus, Social Worker, (508) 791-4488 x25, (email) Mary Bartholomew, Program Director, (508) 791-4488 x13, (email)

Office fax number: (508) 753-0815

Address:

20 Hamilton Street, 2nd Floor Worcester, MA 01604 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.lssne.org/Services-New-Americans/Refugee-Children.aspx

Miscellaneous Information

Are any opportunities appropriate for youth ages 18 or under? If yes, what age range?
	No

Last updated on May 27, 2009