Am J Psychiatry 1977; 134:407-411
Copyright © 1977 by American Psychiatric Association
Problems of Southeast Asian children in a refugee camp
RK Harding and JG Looney
The authors describe the efforts made to meet the mental health needs of
Vietnamese children and their families in a large refugee camp. Many of the
children received strong emotional support from the multigenerational
Vietnamese families, and they adapted well to the new environment. However,
children separated from their families demonstrated increased emotional
vulnerability, and foster placement of children without families presented
a serious problem. The authors suggest that our national commitment to
these refugees may have ended when they left the confines of the refugee
camp.
