Action Planning with Immigrant Families

• Key points of need identification
  • Determine immediate needs: transportation, food, rent, phone calls, connecting children with caregivers, health care bills, medications, etc.
  • Determine strengths and external resources
    • Resiliency in time of crises.
    • How are they bouncing back?
    • How are they coping?
  • What are the transportation needs? Do you need to provide transportation?
  • Determine if there is a need for crisis intervention counseling with mental health professional, pastor, or folk healer.
  • Find out what is happening to the family unit. What is their current situation? How are children faring in school?
  • Identify current financial need.
  • Find out if the person is able to continue in their present home situation.
  • Find out how the person deals with anxiety, tension, or depression. Are they withdrawing?
  • Find out if extended family is a potential resource. Are there community resources available? Do you need to provide transportation?
  • Find out what organization has helped them in the past.
  • Find out if they need services from an attorney. Can your organization, church, you, pay for these services?

• Key points in developing an action plan
  • Use directed questions:
    • What are your needs?
    • How can we help you?
    • Who can we call?
    • Where do you need to go?
    • Do you need transportation?
    • What can our church/organization do to help you right now?
  • Establish concrete action steps to be taken within the next 24 hours to three days.
    1. I will call (_______) and ask for help tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m.
    2. I will call the action center to ask for the number of a pastor or counselor at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.
    3. Our organization, church, agency will call and set up an appointment tomorrow.
  • Provide the person with a list of referral resources: food bank, church clothes closet, social services with names of individuals who can assess needs.
  • Do you need to go with the person if they need interpreter services?

• Techniques for developing an action plan
  • Allow the person to decide action steps.
  • When making an action plan, keep it simple.
  • Make the action plan short-term, 24 hours to three days.
  • Keep the action plan achievable and focused.
    1. Within three days I should have called three agencies or had contact with at least two additional resource persons.
  • After initial action plan establish an intermediate plan.
  • What on-going action steps needed?
  • Plan for inaction and apathy.
    1. Follow-up with listening and expression of feelings.
    2. Listen actively by identifying emergent words: sad, uncertain what to do, helpless, hopeless, suicidal.
    3. Offer to connect individual/family with a professional counselor, pastor, folk healer, physician, case manager, friend who can offer emotional and spiritual support.
    4. Make yourself available to listen.

• Key points of relationship building
  • Establish a resource list of individuals from your agency or congregation who will call the family or visit the family on a weekly basis.
  • Connect with families to assess further needs and plan of action implementation.
  • Reiterate intention to support the person and their family.
  • Establish fund to help sustain family for two months with basic payment of bills: water, rent, electricity, groceries, school supplies, gasoline for vehicle, medications, etc.
  • Establish a carpooling network for those who need transportation.
  • Have members from your church open their homes that offer a place for families to live for three months if unable to pay for current living arrangement.
  • Establish fund to help families pay for adjustment expenses to new country if deported.
  • Establish on-going resource list and use it.
  • Provide opportunities for further intentional interactions.
    • Gather for storytelling time
    • Gather for fun time
    • Gather for prayer and reflection
  • Keep focused on establishing a lasting relationship.
  • Plan for on-going support for family and yourself.
  • Be present if family or individual asks for you to be present.