Supporting Immigrant Families – A Framework for Frontline Workers

Latinx immigrants often make up a significant and growing population of young children in this country, and it is in the best interest of children and families for early childhood workers to understand the unique needs of this population. This workshop will increase participants' understanding of immigration enforcement policy and integrate clinical considerations of the impacts of current immigration policy. This will include the threat of separation for children and parents, family separations due to deportation and separations related to immigration, as well as considerations for historical trauma for groups related to race, ethnicity or religion in their country of origin and in the United States. This workshop will include case-based learning to highlight clinical considerations, as well as a panel presentation on policy and service provision.

Relevant participants can earn 5 Gateways Credits for this webinar. You will be asked to provide your Gateway Registry number upon completion of the webinar. No other CEUs will be provided at this time.

Objectives:

• Have an increased knowledge of how current and historical immigration policy affects very young children and their families.
• Articulate and understand the clinical implications of the intersection of historical trauma, immigration trauma and intergenerational trauma in marginalized families with young children
• Increase their ability to intervene around the chronic fear of separations, separations due to immigration policy and reunification, assessing and treating families around historical and intergenerational trauma.
• Identify the social, physical and psychological implications for young children and their families of threats of family disruption, and actual separations, including ambiguous loss, in the context of immigration enforcement and the COVID-19 syndemic.

Facilitators:

Ivys Fernández-Pastrana, JD. (Lead Trainer)

Ivys Fernández-Pastrana, JD, is the Program Manager for the BMC Supporting Immigrant Families Project. She has extensive experience working with immigrant families addressing social determinants of health and leading Community Health Workers in pediatric settings. Ivys is an attorney by training. Ivys is also the co-investigator and co-founder of the EASE Clinic which focuses in providing support in primary care to families facing challenges to access special education services and provide support to primary care clinicians through consultations and lectures. She also co-authored the BMC Family Preparedness Plan for Immigrant Families.   

Carmen Rosa Noroña, LCSW, MS.Ed. CEIS (Lead Trainer)

For over 25 years, Ms. Noroña has provided clinical services to young children and their families in a variety of settings. She currently is the Child Trauma Clinical Services and Training Lead at the Child Witness to Violence Project and the Associate Director of the Boston Site Early Trauma Treatment Network at Boston Medical Center. Her interests are on the impact of trauma on attachment; the intersection of culture, immigration, and trauma; diversity-informed reflective supervision and consultation; and on the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practices in real world settings.  

Sara Phou, LCSW, AM 

Ms.Phou is the current Director of the Center for Children and Families at the Erikson Institute.  She has been working with children and families in a wide variety of settings in Chicago since 2008, including work with Chicago Public Schools, Head Start and Early Head Start programs with a special interest in working with teen parents.  Ms. Phou is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and earned her graduate degree from the University of Chicago and an Infant Mental Health Certificate from the Erikson Institute.  She is trained in Child Parent Psychotherapy and Circle of Security Parenting©.   

Erika Flores, LCSW, MSW, MS

Ms. Flores is a clinical supervisor for Erikson’s Center for Children and Families where she provides counseling services and staff supervision to bilingual clinicians.  She earned a Master of Social Work from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Child Development from Erikson Institute.  Ms. Flores has extensive experience working with children and families.  The breath of her experience includes working with immigrant families, domestic violence victims, children and families involved with the child welfare system or who have experienced significant trauma, critical life transitions or losses, and children with developmental delays.