Our Findings
Trauma
-
As we suspected from our initial research, the trauma experienced in Venezuela is severe. When we asked Ingrid what it was like to live in Venezuela, she first brought up food insecurity, saying that her and her family were “always worried about food or couldn’t afford it.” Ingrid also spoke to how unsafe she felt living in Venezuela. She saw crime take place all around her yet there were never any legal consequences: “there was no justice.”
-
When we asked Ingrid to speak about her journey to the U.S., all she could say was “horrible” before she started choking up. It was clear Ingrid did not want to say anything more, so we moved on to other questions. When we spoke to Principal Parra, he gave us various examples of some of the many heart-wrenching stories he has heard from migrants. For instance, a Venezuelan family told him about one extremely traumatic event they had witnessed while making a dangerous river crossing. While this family was making their way across, they saw a mother holding her baby attempting the same trek. When the current picked up, they watched in horror as the mother lost hold of her child. Within a moment, the current had taken the baby downstream. After making it across the river and continuing their journey north, the family crossed paths with the woman once more to see that she had hung herself from a tree.
-
It was clear that Ingrid is certainly thankful to be living in the U.S. and appreciative of the resources she and her children have had access to. However, there are still various hurdles making life far from easy. Ingrid got rather emotional when she spoke about her family’s financial worry. While her family was able to move out of the migrant shelter because her husband had a job, he recently lost that job. Ingrid got incredibly emotional discussing the job loss. It was clear her family's financial insecurity was weighing on Ingrid heavily.
-
Beyond monetary instability, Ingrid spoke to some of the emotional pains she has experienced trying to acclimate to an entirely new culture. She said, “it’s difficult to be in a country [they] don’t know” and “the language barrier makes it hard.”
-
Ingird and Principal Parra both spoke to life at the migrant shelter. Ingrid explained how her family’s main motivation to leave the shelter was that her daughter was becoming malnourished. Principal Parra explained how families at the shelter are sprawled out in a gymnasium on air mattresses with numbers pasted above them on the walls, a sight he described as “dehumanizing.”
-
Finally, Principal Parra shared various insights into the kinds of emotional trauma facing migrant students. He told us that at school, “these kids are still in panic mode because they are worried they will never see their parents again.” The entire journey to the U.S., these children were told by their parents to stay near them and to always hold their hand, so these children are struggling to let go of that mentality. As Principal Parra put it simply, “all these kids have is a thirst for normalcy.”
Click on each tab to read about the different origins of migrant familys' trauma
Resources
-
The rent support system has helped many migrants move out of the shelters, as pointed out by Ingird and Principal Parra. While Ingrid and her family did not take advantage of this system, she said that she has seen many other families benefit from this support.
-
When we asked Ingrid about her favorite thing about the U.S., she responded, “the laws.” In Venezuela, there was no justice system; people would commit crimes and go unpunished. She told us how women would get hit in Venezuela and there were no consequences. However, in the U.S., Ingrid is happy to see that there is a legal process to protect against crime. Overall, she said, there is just more of a system allowing for more protections. She pointed out the health care system as another example of increased security.
-
Ingrid spoke at great length about her children’s experience at school. She said that, at first, her kids did not like school since in Venezuela they either did not go to school or had a maximum of three hours of class each day. While it took a while for her children to adjust to the increased time commitment, they now love school. In fact, Ingrid told us that her son is happiest in school and that “just school itself is supporting [his] mental wellbeing.” Principal Parra reiterated the same sentiment; migrant children are incredibly thankful to be in school and eager to learn: “they are the first to raise their hands.”
-
In addition, Principal Parra pointed out how outreach efforts are left to the discretion of each public school. Principal Parra has truly taken it upon himself to support the influx of migrants. When the number of migrants entering the city first began climbing, he went to the migrant shelter and set up tables to get children excited about school and enroll them. Moreover, his school has instituted a summer program to help migrant children catch up to their peers, as in two ways – language and coursework – they are behind. Because it is CPS policy to place children in grades based on age (not ability), migrant children are at a real disadvantage. Extra initiatives like this summer program are extremely useful in helping migrant children catch up.
-
It was clear from our conversations that mental health resources have not been a top priority at the city level. Principal Parra said that his biggest suggestion to CPS moving forward would be to “address children’s emotional trauma.” At Carl Von Linné School, there is a full-time counselor and a full-time social worker. Principal Parra thinks having faculty there to support the mental wellbeing of migrant children is critical. He recommends that CPS make an effort to hire more Spanish-speaking school counselors, or at least set up systems for mental health referrals. As he put it, oftentimes the emotional needs have to be dealt with before the academic needs can be addressed.
Click on each tab to read about the different resources available for migrant families