USCCB youth refugee materials updated to address gay, transgendered youth

October 29, 2013

Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services (BRYCS), a project of the United Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, has updated and expanded its training to workers in federally-funded refugee resettlement programs, in part to “address the needs of particularly vulnerable groups of children, including youth who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.”

The training is intended for those who work with youth in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement / Division of Children's Services.

The revised Tier One Training Manual – copyrighted by the United Conference of Catholic Bishops, and published with the assistance of a Department of Health and Human Services grant – notes that “it is important to be alert for homophobic remarks among the staff. If any are made, discuss in a non-judgmental way how these kinds of remarks may make a young gay resident feel.”

If a “boy teases another boy, saying that he is gay, standing too close to him, and so forth, it would be a form of sexual harassment.”

“Exploring Complexities” – the new Tier Two Training Manual, also copyrighted by the United Conference of Catholic Bishops, and published with the assistance of a Department of Health and Human Services grant – presents a scenario in which two male minors are “rubbing each other with their feet on the other’s genital areas.”

The training advises:

After allowing the staff to discuss this, you can suggest that the young men should learn not to engage in sexual contact in the residence, and they should develop a stronger sense of sexual boundaries – to keep sexual activities private, even after leaving the residence …

You can mention that young people engage in sexual behaviors for all kinds of reasons, including to relieve tension or boredom, for the thrill of breaking rules and doing something prohibited, because they are lonely and want to connect with another person and sexual activity is one way to establish a connection, and simply because they are easily stimulated at that age.

In another scenario, three young men have reported that another minor male resident has been exposing himself to them on different occasions. The training advises:

Presuming these reports are true, why would Telmo engage in these kinds of behaviors? It is possible that he has simply never been taught appropriate sexual boundaries … While Telmo needs to understand that he should not expose himself to others and should keep from touching other residents inappropriately, he should not be shamed or humiliated for his actions. If Telmo continues to engage in these kinds of behaviors he may need to be transferred to a more restrictive setting.

The BRYCS manual makes no reference to moral law or the practice of virtue.

 

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Further information:

• Training Initiative Overview- Updated and Expanded! (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, USCCB)
• Tier One Training Manual (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, USCCB)
• Tier Two Training Manual (Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, USCCB)