Archive for the ‘Washington’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 21, 2012
Refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) need specialized and competent care at mental health centers to get back on their feet (why the federal refugee resettlement program doesn’t mandate mental health screening for refugees makes little sense to me). A specialist at a center in Kent, in Washington state, has found that focusing on a patient’s physical symptoms is useful in helping refugee clients. An article at KUOW tells the story of an Iraqi refugee struggling to survive with PTSD (he didn’t get a proper referral until he tried to jump off a roof):
The Kuba family lives in a small ground–floor apartment in Kent…
…But there’s a lot more space here than they had a few weeks ago, when they were living in their car.
Amer Kuba: “I leave my home. And all my stuff in the street cause I don’t have money for truck.”
This is Amer Kuba. He is a refugee from Iraq. At his first apartment, rent was $735. But he only got $560 in refugee cash assistance. It caught up with him, and he was evicted.
Kuba: “I take just my clothes and I sleep in my car almost three month. I drive in night, and my family sleep in car.”
…Amer, his pregnant wife and their young son came to Seattle in April 2010.
Amer says he didn’t leave the house for the first six months. He was afraid al–Qaida would find him here.
Kuba: “And I have psychological problem. And I can’t speak with anybody and confuse all the time and I still inside my house, I don’t go outside because I afraid.”…
…Beth Farmer runs the International Counseling Service, a community mental health center. Almost all of her clientele are refugees from Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Farmer: “If you are already having post–traumatic stress disorder symptoms, you are really poised to fall through the cracks.”
That’s because there is no standardized way to make sure refugees with severe mental health problems are funneled into treatment as soon as they arrive.
Amer didn’t get sent to Beth’s clinic until he attempted suicide. He tried to jump off the roof of the Department of Social and Health Services building in Downtown Seattle.
Overall, Beth says refugees are 10 times more likely to have PTSD than the general population. But it can be hard to get patients like Amer into treatment.
Many refugees with PTSD share his fear of going outside. And that’s only amplified by how hard it can be to find your way around a new city, especially if you don’t have a car or speak the language.
Even the idea of mental health treatment can be scary.
Farmer: “For a long time, people didn’t think that they could address mental health issues because the stigma in the refugee community was so high.”
Getting counseling or psychiatric treatment might be seen as selfish or wimpy, or even dangerous. For some refugees, mental hospitals are a place where political dissidents are sent.
Beth has found that focusing on physical symptoms gets the best results. She starts by asking a patient how they’re sleeping… Read more here
Posted in Iraqi, Kent, PTSD | Tagged: Iraqi, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 12, 2012
Under a new program the City of Seattle will offer job training and educational support to low-income immigrant and refugee youth between the ages of 15-20 who typically have poor high school graduation rates. To pay for the program the City will redirect $315,000 from existing city programs for immigrants and refugees, with another $150,000 in funding added. An article in The Seattle Times has more:
Job training and educational support will be offered to low-income immigrant and refugee youth and their families under a new program announced Tuesday by the City of Seattle…
…The city is looking for established or emerging organizations that can improve the outcomes for immigrant and refugee youth between the ages of 15-20 who typically have poor high school graduation rates, few job skills and little parent support or advocacy…
Advocates say immigrant and refugee teens have a difficult time competing for and landing jobs because of their limited language skills, lack of job training and the gaps in their education because of their family histories… Read more here
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, education, employment/jobs for refugees, funding, schools, Seattle, teens | Tagged: at-risk, graduation rates, job skills, job training, jobs program, refugees, resettlement, seattle, teenagers, youth | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 27, 2011
The continuing weak economic times seem to have hit refugees particularly hard in Seattle. Homelessness among refugees began to skyrocket in mid 2010. An article in The Fiscal Times refers to the situation:
…In King County, which takes in both Seattle and neighboring suburbs like Kent, half of the population growth over the last two decades has come from immigrants and refugees, said Chandler Felt, King County’s demographer. The vast majority of those new foreign-born residents have settled into South King County suburbs, including Kent, instead of in Seattle to take advantage of more affordable housing, Felt said.
The surge in refugees and immigrants from East Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia settling in Kent has made the community more culturally diverse, but it’s also helped push the poverty rate to 25 percent, compared to 9 percent ten years ago, said Katherine Johnson, the city’s housing and human services manager.
“All of a sudden, the resettlement agency’s finished with you six or eight months after you arrive, you’re not able to find a job, and you’re just starting to learn the language and assimilate,” Johnson said. “The next thing that happens is you have eviction notices, your utilities are turned off, and you have no finances to speak of.” The city has seen thousands of cases like that , she said… Read more here
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, Seattle | Tagged: eviction, Kent, poverty, refugees, resettlement, seattle, South King County, suburbs, utilities turned off | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Melissa Sogard on September 2, 2011
An 18-year-old Chin refugee from Myanmar, and resettled to Washington state just two weeks ago, is the latest refugee to die from accidental drowning. An article about the tragic drowning is in the Whidbey News-Times:
An 18-year-old refugee from Burma drowned while swimming at a Deception Pass State Park lake Saturday afternoon, according to the Island County Coroner’s Office.
Sang Cung Hnin was at Cranberry Lake with a group of friends from a Kent church group when the tragedy occurred. Hnin and his family escaped from Burma, which is officially known as the military-dominated Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and had been living in Malaysia prior to moving to Kent just two weeks ago.
Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said he could find no explanation for the drowning. An autopsy revealed that Hnin was a completely healthy young man and his family members confirmed that he was a strong swimmer.
Bishop said he could only speculate that perhaps Hnin may have cramped while he was in the water… Read more here
Posted in Chin, churches, drowning, Kent, teenagers, World Relief | Tagged: Burma, Cin, Cranberry Lake, Deception Pass, drowning, Kent, Myanmar, refugee, resettlement, Sang Cung Hnin, Washinton, World Relief | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 29, 2011
In this week of federal debt trauma in walks an employee of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to tell us how federal employees at his agency get overtime pay in exchange for not working. But of course all of us who care about refugees and immigrants, for the human beings they are, already know this about government agency workers, as well as their friends in private industry at the resettlement agencies. Many of them do whatever they want to do, and they suffer no consequences whatsoever. That is why we so desperately need passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Read more in Joe Davidson’s Washington Post column.
During a period when some in Congress and their related policy wonks think federal employees are overpaid, here comes Christian Sanchez, a Border Patrol agent who says he was punished for refusing overtime pay.
His bosses suggested that he get psychological help.
Instead, Sanchez has become a whistleblower, and on Friday he plans to tell gathering on Capitol Hill that he was retaliated against because he would not take overtime for doing no work.
Sanchez is an example of what the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower advocacy organization, calls “pocketbook whistleblowers.” They allegedly have suffered retaliation for actions that could save the government money.
This emphasis on guarding Uncle Sam’s pocketbook allows whistleblower advocates to broaden the appeal of legislation designed to expand legal protections for employees who disclose government waste, fraud and abuse. Supporting whistleblowers becomes more than helping individual employees who have been mistreated by the system — it becomes into an act of fiscal responsibility.
That approach could increase chances for the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. It’s come close to passage during the many years it has lingered in Congress, but proponents have not been able to push it across the finish line.
In a letter last month to President Obama and Congress, a group of federal whistleblowers urged them to approve the legislation, telling them that “you have allowed potentially billions of tax dollars to be wasted because all federal workers know they cannot speak up without engaging in professional suicide.”
Sanchez is speaking up, and he has paid a price.
There is little work to do at the Port Angeles, Wash., station, where he is assigned, he said. He calls it a “black hole” where agents have “no purpose, no mission.”
“The worst fraud on taxpayers is that we are getting paid overtime not to work,” Sanchez said in a prepared statement. When he first started working at the station, “I noticed it was common practice for everyone to get paid overtime not to work… Read more here
Our own experience with Customs and Border Protection also demonstrated how completely corrupt and debased that federal agency is. Before either the Left or the Right try to spin this case for their own interests, I’d like to remind everyone that for decades both the Democrats and the Republicans have repeatedly contributed to corruption by installing their own cronies in the federal agencies and courts, while turning a blind eye to the damage these people have done to the people and the nation.
I nominate Christian Sanchez as hero of the month. It helps to restore my faith in humanity when I see that our country still has people like this among our ranks.
Posted in Congress, funding, Government Accountability Project, immigration services, Obama administration, openess and transparency in government, police, revolving door, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Washington | Tagged: Border Patrol, Christian Sanchez, Congress, Customs and Border Protection, Democrats, federal government, Government Accountability Project, immigrants, Port Angeles, refugees, Republicans, Washington, whistleblower, Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 27, 2011
A woman in Seattle who has been helping hundreds of local Iraqi refugees has found herself up against the law. A column by Danny Westneat in The Seattle Times has more:
Civil disobedience comes in many forms, from the sit-in to the walkout. You don’t usually stick it to the man by holding a garage sale.
Yet that is what’s likely to happen at Rita Zawaideh’s place in the next week, in an absurd showdown with the city of Seattle.
“I’m not going to stop,” Zawaideh told me when I dropped by her Wallingford office. “This city has got to have better things to do than go after some lady holding garage sales to help people.”
Apparently the city does not. Neither did some neighbor or passer-by who, in late May, called the city to allege that Zawaideh, a 60-year-old Jordanian immigrant and Middle East tour operator, is running an illegal flea market out of her home.
“We have had a complaint concerning endless garage sales on your property,” reads the warning letter from the city’s code-compliance program.
The letter said that holding more than four garage sales a year is “considered a commercial activity” and, as such, is banned in residential areas.
The letter ordered Zawaideh to stop, adding that “violations are subject to $150 and $500 citations.”… Read more here
Posted in Iraqi, Seattle, State Department | Tagged: Arab American Community Coalition, garage sale, human rights, Iraqi refugees, Jordan, refugee, resettlement, Rita Zawaideh, seattle, Syria | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 7, 2011
Submerged car found in Spokane River at Boone Avenue and Hogan Street, 1600 block of East Mission.
It appears that police have found the three missing Nepali-Bhutanese young men in Washington state. Police discovered the car they were last seen in, and with three bodies in it, submerged in the Spokane River, near the friend’s apartment where they were last seen. The bodies, however, have not yet been officially identified. The Spokesman Review is covering the tragic case.
Krishna Dhakal…likely died in the cold Spokane River, along with two life-long friends.
Spokane police removed a car from the Spokane River near Mission Park this evening, along with bodies believed to be those of three Bhutanese refugees missing since June 11. However, the bodies have not yet been officially identified.
Dhakal, of Spokane, 28-year-old Dilli Ram Bhattarai and 21-year-old Krishna Dhital, both of Tukwila, were last seen in the black Acura that was pulled out of the river near the 1600 block of East Mission, where Dhakal lived with his family.
Detectives working the case discovered a bumper and license plate this morning in the river near South Riverton and Sinto avenues. The Spokane County sheriff’s helicopter was called in and spotted a car in the river near Boone Avenue and Hogan Street, just downstream from the bumper, which had the license plate from the car the three were last seen in, police said.
Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe said police initially searched the area after a missing persons report was filed, but the river was about four feet higher at the time. Detectives returned today and were able to see the bumper in the water… Read more here
KREM.com has a video news report.
**UPDATE** July 8, 2011 – Autopsies show that the three drowned
Posted in Nepali Bhutanese, safety, Spokane, Washington, World Relief | Tagged: bhutanese, Dilli Ram Bhattarai, Krishna Dhakal, Krishna Dhital, missing persons, nepalese, Nepali, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, spokane, Tukwila, washington state, World Relief | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 4, 2011
Police are still investigating Washington state case involving three young Nepali-Bhutanese men who have been missing since June 11. They were last seen with a friend at an apartment complex in Spokane. Police are looking for a black 2003 Acura with Washington license plate 933ZGH that the young men were seen in. Anyone with information about the men can call the Tukwila Police at 206-433-1808 or an anonymous tip line at
206-431-3689. If anyone sees the men, they should call 911. The
Tukwila Reporter has more:
The search continues this month by Tukwila Police and Spokane Police for three missing Bhutanese men, including two men from Tukwila and one from Spokane.
Dilli Ram Bhattarai, 28 and Krishna L. Dhital, 21, both of Tukwila, and Krishna Dhakal, 17, of Spokane, have been missing since June 11, according to a media release from the Bhutanese Community Resource Center in SeaTac. The men were reported missing June 13 by family members.
Bhattarai and Dhital traveled to Spokane to visit family. The three were last seen with a friend at an apartment complex in Spokane. Bhattarai and Dhakal are cousins and Dhital was a neighbor while the three were in refugee camps in Nepal.
Tukwila Police are working with Spokane Police to find the men, according to a July 1 email from Mike Murphy, Tukwila Police spokesman. Spokane is the lead investigator because the men were last seen in that area.
“We have a detective assigned as well and we are working with Spokane to coordinate our effort,” Murphy said. “I am not aware of anything that appears to be foul play but, as you know from the family, this is highly unusual and that angle is not yet ruled out.”
Family members told police that culturally, it’s very uncommon that the men have run away from their relatives. Relatives suspect the men might be in life-threatening situations…
Bhattarai is the father of a baby girl. He was scheduled to report to work on June 13. Dhital just graduated from Foster High School in Tukwila. Dhakal, a sophomore, was to report back to school in Spokane after the weekend they went missing… Read more here
Posted in Nepali Bhutanese, police, Spokane, Washington, World Relief | Tagged: bhutanese, Bhutanese Community Resource Center, Dilli Bhattarai, Dilli Ram Bhattarai, human rights, Krishna Dhakal, Krishna Dhital, Krishna L. Dhital, missing persons, nepalese, Nepali-Bhutanese, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, spokane, Tukwila, washington state | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on June 21, 2011
**UPDATE** — July 7, 2011
Media outlets are reporting that three young Nepali-Bhutanese men went missing ten days ago in North Spokane, Washington. The three were last seen playing soccer at a local park, going home to eat, and then heading out again. NWCN has the story:
SPOKANE, Wash. – Police need help finding three young men who went missing ten days ago.
They are Bhutanese refugees who came to Washington two years ago.
Family and friends say the men were at Mission Park in North Spokane playing soccer just before they went missing. They came home, had dinner, and then went out again. That’s the last time anyone saw them.
Family members filed a missing person’s report. Now loved ones and staff at World Relief are trying to get the word out about the mysterious disappearance… Read more here
Another article at KXLY-4 reports that two young men, Bhattarai and Dhital, are from Tukwila (in western Washington) and that Dhakal, a 17-year-old, is from Spokane.
…17-year-old Krishna Dhakal, a Lewis and Clark High School student, 28-year-old Dilli Ram Bhattarai and 21-year-old Krishna Dhital disappeared two weeks ago. They were last seen shortly after playing soccer at a park near Whittier Pool on June 11.
…When Dhakal didn’t show up for finals at Lewis and Clark two weeks ago, police and his mom knew something wasn’t right. Dhakal was last seen with his cousin Dilli Ram Bhattarai and his friend Krishna Dhital. Bhattarai and Dhital are both from Tukwila in western Washington. No one has seen them or been able to reach them by cellphone.
[family friend Anna] Demmert says the Bhutanese are a very trusting culture and she’s afraid that may have landed Dhakal, Bhattarai and Dhital in trouble… Read more here
On a video clip Dhakal’s mother says via an interperter that they tried calling the three but that their cellphones are “not working”.
If you have any information please call Crime Check 509-456-2233.
Posted in Nepali Bhutanese, safety, Spokane, World Relief | Tagged: bhutanese, Dilli Ram Bhattarai, Ditti Bhatatarai, Khrishan Dhakal, Khrishna Dhakal, Krishna Dhakal, Lewis and Clark High School, Mark Kadel, Mission Park, Nepali, Nepali-Bhutanese, refugee, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, soccer, spokane, Tukwila, washington state, Whittier Pool, World Relief | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 24, 2011
We recently received a new batch of State Department refugee resettlement agency monitoring reports. According to a 2007 monitoring report monitors found that Catholic Community Services Seattle (CCS) was only in “partial compliance” with it’s resettlement contract. Problems included the following:
- A Burmese refugee family of five lived in a two-bedroom apartment with their 19-year-old niece. The sleeping space did not seem adequate for this family, and two children did not have beds (note: the Operational Guidance contract document requires that agencies make sure housing has an appropriate number of bedrooms/sleeping areas and beds for refugee families). The 19-year-old and two children slept in one room with a six-year-old sleeping on the floor. The husband, wife, and a three-year-old child slept in another room, with the three-year old on the floor. The family said that they would like beds for the children, but there was not enough floor space. None of the beds had bed frames, as required. The family told monitors that car seats were not used for the children when the agency picked them up at the airport.
- A single Burmese male refugee lived with four roommates in a two-bedroom apartment. He expressed concern that no one had talked to him about a job or about his finances. He walked one hour to class and back and said he was not shown how to take public transportation. He slept in a room with two others. He did not have a bed frame and he stored his clothing on his mattress and in a plastic basket on the floor.
- A Burundian refugee family of six was living with a grown daughter in a two-bedroom apartment. There did not seem to be an appropriate number of bedrooms for the family. In one bedroom, a 19-year-old daughter, a four-year-old granddaughter, a seven-year-old son, and another grown daughter slept in three beds that they pushed together forming one bed due to lack of floor space. The husband, wife, and 11-year-old child slept in the second bedroom. The family also said that they needed cold-weather clothing for the children.
- A Somali refugee mother with two minor children said that CCS did not give her much help, especially when she requested transportation help for health appointments for her children.
- Case notes were so poor that monitors could not determine whether CCS had given refugees required services and/or material items.
If any of these issues seems small or petty, they are not. The State Department only requires refugee resettlement agencies to give refugees certain minimum-required services and material items, which are quite minimal (check out Operational Guidance). To not even meet these minimum requirements is 1) contract fraud, and 2) unethical (especially for a so-called faith-based agency, and 3) just wrong to do to these refugee people who have suffered so much already and need a few basic items and services to try to start a new life in America. Secondly, the taxpayers should be getting what they’re paying for.
Posted in beds, Burma/Myanmar, Burundian, Catholic, Catholic Community Services Seattle, children, clothes, community/cultural orientation, faith-based, furnishings, lack of, housing, overcrowding, Operational Guidance, Seattle, Somali, State Department, transportation | Tagged: Burmese refugees, Burundian refugees, Catholic Community Services, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, seattle, Somali refugees, State Department, us catholic conference of bishops, USCCB | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
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