Page 36 - IJPS-8-2

International Journal of
Population Studies URM Education, Economic, and Social Outcomes

include social connection, language and cultural knowledge, many years and over 82,000 arrived between 1983 and 2007
and safety. In this paper, we explore outcomes that both (Betancourt et al., 2015). Therefore, the Somali youth may
theories use to understand how unaccompanied minors have access to a more established cultural network, and
from the DRC, Myanmar, Somalia, and Eritrea are doing therefore, greater supports available to them on arrival
after discharge from foster care in terms of educational to the US than refugees from some of the other countries
attainment, employment status/self-sufficiency, and social analyzed, which are newer populations. Social networks
ties. The results discuss differences among youth from provide many benefits to immigrants including better
different countries to help inform casework practices and mental health outcomes (Elsayed et al., 2019; Revens et al.,
the knowledge base in terms of how this unique group of 2021) and lower risk of food insecurity (Freiria et al., 2021).
youth is faring in the US after resettlement. Understanding
well-being of vulnerable youths who are both immigrants 4.1. Limitations
and living in foster care is important to study to help achieve The main limitation to this study is that the variables are
equity and well-being in society. from administrative data at an agency and standardized

This analysis found a significant relationship between measures were not used to collect data on social connections
country of origin and education showing that youths or self-sufficiency. Standardized measures would be more
from Myanmar are most likely to be enrolled in college efficient than relying on a caseworker to use a single item
at discharge whereas youths from Somalia, Eritrea, and to assess these constructs. In addition, Chi-square analyses
other countries are most likely to still be enrolled in a K-12 are built on the assumption that there is greater than 5 cases
education. The educational resilience, perseverance, and in each cell, and for some of the analyses above, this was
aspirations of refugee youth have been found to serve as not the case due to limited number of youth from these
a protective factor in the process of adjustment to a new countries. Due to the small sample sizes from each country
country (Kumi-Yeboah & Smith, 2016; Kohli, 2011). of origin, more in-depth statistical analyses of these data
are not appropriate at this time. We do suggest that the
There was a significant relationship found between social service agencies continue to track data and continue
country of origin and employment. More specifically, youths to coproduce statistical analyses in future years so that
from Myanmar and DRC were more likely to be employed; more than Chi-square analyses can be completed. For the
and youths from Eritrea were less likely to be employed at time being, readers should use caution when interpreting
the time of discharge from the URM foster care program. At the results of this study and use the knowledge to question
times, people need to move to find adequate employment; what they see in the field and inform themselves rather
however, the dataset used for this study is cross-sectional than to make blanket assumptions about URMs from
at time of discharge and does not account for any internal different countries.
migration that may occur in the months after leaving the
foster care program. Mirembe et al. (2019) found that 4.2. Implications
young adults in Uganda often moved to the cities to seek Overall, the findings from this study help to support the
employment, and those aged 18 – 22, females, and those idea that children from different countries have different
without children were more likely to be self-employed. Our experiences and, therefore, may have different outcomes.
study did not look at self-employment outcomes, but this Service providers can use this knowledge when working
could be an interesting area for future research. with youth from these countries to better predict what
Because self-sufficiency is a common metric used to help youth from a certain country may need, in relation
assess success of refugees in the US (Halpern, 2008), it to youth from other countries. Service plans for youth
is included here as an indicator of economic well-being. in foster care are typically individualized and this can
Burmese, Congolese, and Somali youths were more likely help agency staff to predict what needs will be based on
to be self-sufficient as compared to not self-sufficient. the ethnicities enrolled in their program. For example,
When looking at the outcomes for employment and self- knowing that Eritrean youths have different educational
sufficiency, they seem to mirror each other in that those and employment outcomes can help in service planning
who are employed are also likely to be self-sufficient, before emancipation. This could include additional life
perhaps due to the income from their employment. skills programming for these youth, more targeted support
Evans et al. (2021) also found that employment and self- in case planning 1 year from emancipation or targeted
sufficiency were closed related outcomes. support in obtaining a job before emancipation.
There were no statistically significant relationships This preliminary study shows that more research is
among any of the variables assessed for youth from needed. First, future analyses should include analysis of more
Somalia. Somali refugees have been arriving to the US for demographics such as gender, length of stay in foster care,

Volume 8 Issue 2 (2022) 30 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i2.304