Red Cross on Family Separation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
While it is globally recognized that separation from family is a highly distressing situation, limited research has been conducted to understand the specific effects of family separation to inform practice and policy. This report summarizes the findings from a research project conducted to map the impact of family separation on forcibly displaced individuals (i.e people with a refugee background) resettled in Australia. The project was conducted by the Australian Red Cross in collaboration with the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program (RTRP) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Thirteen individuals participated in semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis was conducted. Four core domains of results emerged relating to how family separation affected participants:
(1) Beliefs and values related to family unity vs. separation; (
2) Direct impact of family separation;
(3) Action taken to mitigate the impact of separation;
(4) Coping and support mechanisms.
Domain 1: Beliefs and values related to family unity vs. separation. Participants reflected their belief in the importance of family in shaping identity and for practical support. Family unity was desired to enhance happiness, for security and to facilitate settlement in Australia.
Domain 2: Direct impact of family separation. The findings demonstrate the negative impact of family separation on psychological wellbeing – particularly by increasing worry, reducing daily functioning, shifting self-identity and disrupting family dynamics. Notably, the quality of the impact differed whether family was missing or separated. While connecting with missing family members was associated with strong positive emotion such as joy, there appeared to be a concomitant shift in the quality of distress from grief to more fear-based reactions, and a shift in an external to internal sense of control over events, often placing an enormous burden on participants. As such, participants felt a strong sense of responsibility for separated family members, including to provide financial, emotional and practical support, such as assistance for separated family to immigrate to Australia.
Domain 3: Action taken to reduce the impact of separation. Participants exhibited high levels of resourcefulness in finding missing family, connect with separated family and to work towards physical reunification. Key barriers to acting included a lack of information, language, and expense relating to mobile phone contact or poor access to more cost-effective means of communication. Key enablers included receiving the right support, for example from the Australian Red Cross, to facilitate linking with missing family and to provide support during this process. While communicating with separated family was critical to the wellbeing of participants, it was also associated with distress and feelings of powerlessness to change the situation.
Domain 4: Coping and support mechanisms. Despite facing a multitude of difficulties, many participants engaged in activity-based (eg., working), social (eg., social support), spiritual (eg., religious practice), and cognitive and emotion-based (eg., distraction, acceptance) coping strategies. Receiving positive support from professional services, family and community members was common. Participants displayed many markers of resilience, including maintaining hope for their future, taking concrete action, having some family in Australia and taking advantage of the opportunities in Australia.
The findings from this project demonstrate the broad impact of family separation on individuals affected by forcible displacement. It highlights the complexity of the needs of people facing long term separation, and the importance of understanding how these needs evolve over time through further research. Services such as the Restoring Family Links (RFL) program at the Australian Red Cross have an important role to play in not only connecting missing family members but to support refugees living with prolonged uncertainty connected with the different phases of family separation.
