Abstract
Social work with refugees and immigrants is central to policy and practice internationally. Since the first edition of this text came out in 2002 the world has changed significantly, and it is timely to have a second edition. In 2002 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated 12 million refugees worldwide, and in 2020 there are 79.5 million forcibly displaced persons (|UNHCR, 2002, 2020). We have seen the shifting geo-political landscape, and the changing of Presidents and Prime Ministers across many countries in the North and the South. Meanwhile the prominence of human rights abuses and social injustice continues across continents. While originating in and focusing on the United States of America (USA), this text takes a pancultural lens, highlighting universal human values affecting all of those affected by forced migration, and so it has an international appeal. The first part of the book has a focus on the world view of refugees and migration, international law, United States policy and human services delivery systems. This context is vital as it alerts the reader to the importance of approaching all forms of migration from an intersectional point of view, including international law and policy.
The second part of the book drills down into the key areas of practice that a social worker will encounter regardless of whether they specifically work in this space, namely education, employment, health, mental health, and family and community relations. People from refugee backgrounds, whether recognized officially or not, are part of our communities and so will encounter social workers in all of these sectors. Social workers need to be informed about the rights and impediments to social justice that individuals, families, and communities face in order to effectively advocate with, and for, them. This text highlights effective ‘Best practices’ across micro, meso and macro levels and offers insights for practitioners working across all these important domains. In particular, the ‘Discussion questions’ offer opportunities to consider case examples and scenarios and engage with ethical dilemmas in practice.
Social work is a socially constructed activity that both contributes to, and is influenced by, dominant discourses. These discourses are contested, and shift based on the power brokers defining what and who matters. Currently, during this time of increasing inequality, with racism and sexism being called out and an international pandemic of COVID-19, we are seeing the discourse of economics being pitted against that of health and wellbeing, and social justice. I would have liked to see more about how critical social work has engaged with these issues, and identified transformative practice across the following four domains of service provision: critical reflexive interrogation, responsiveness; rights base advocacy, and co-production (Williams & Graham, 2016). Critical multicultural practice in social work requires challenging dominant discourses and incorporating contemporary key learnings from international practice. One of the lessons critical race theory has taught us is that this requires engagement with communities, and that it is not the refugees and migrants that are the problem but the systems and structures that exclude them. This text is recommended to all those studying and working to support refugees and migrants, and across direct practice, policy, advocacy, and research.