Does a Rising Tide Lift All Boats? Refugee Resettlement, Integration and
New Zealand’s Settlement Strategy
Prepared by Patti Grogan | July 2008 with funding from the sponsors
of the Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowships in Public Policy
Patti Grogan is Director of Policy and Planning
for Refugee Services at the Florida Department of Children and Families.
She has served in many senior level positions in Florida government,
as an elected State Senator and as a Parole Commissioner. In her
current position, she directs policy for the largest refugee resettlement
program in the United States.
During Patti's Ian Axford Fellowship exchange to New Zealand she
was based at the Department of Labour, where she compared refugee
integration strategies in New Zealand and the US.
Abstract
New Zealand and the United States are two of a small number of countries
that resettle refugees fleeing persecution. Both countries have established
processes to review and select refugees in need of protection and provide
assistance as the refugees establish themselves in their new country.
The process of refugee integration faces changing circumstances as governments
in both countries react to increasing global migration.
New Zealand has developed a national Settlement Strategy to assist both
new arrivals and local communities to improve settlement outcomes. One
initiative of that strategy, Settlement Support New Zealand (SSNZ), presents
a unique opportunity to analyse a new integration programme seeking to
serve refugees as well as the greater migrant community.
The research compares refugee admissions process and resettlement in
the two countries as well as refugee interaction with SSNZ. The analysis
of SSNZ finds that while governance of local settlement initiatives supports
refugees, access to translated materials and interpreters is limited.
Use of SSNZ services by refugees varies between communities, with significantly
higher utilization when SSNZ services are co-located with other entities
providing services to refugees. The report identifies some considerations
for the development of integration policies that support refugees based
on the experiences of New Zealand's Settlement Support programme.
Table
of contents
Acknowledgments
Executive Summary
Introduction
1. Refugee admissions in New Zealand and the United States
2. Analysis of refugee admissions
3. Services and assistance to refugees
4. Analysis of services and assistance to refugees
5. Refugees and national integration programmes
6. Lessons from New Zealand
Bibliography
axford2008_grogan.pdf (440kb)
