LOST IN TRANSITION: STATE SERVICES FOR HUMANITARIAN ENTRANTS
Background
Western Australia has provided a place to settle for humanitarian entrants for many years as part of a national program. Entrants arriving in recent years have complex needs reflecting their experiences before coming here. They have often suffered torture and trauma and spent long periods in refugee camps without basic services.
A range of factors can influence how quickly and successfully humanitarian entrants settle, including English language skills, literacy and numeracy, health and the capacity to get healthcare. These factors have a flow on effect on a humanitarian entrant’s ability to secure a home and employment, and to use legal, financial and social support systems.
If the needs of humanitarian entrants are not addressed there is a risk that they will not participate in and contribute to the community and that social problems will develop and become entrenched. Providing accessible and effective services is very important for the entrants and the community.
At the same time, it is a challenge for agencies to adapt to both the complexity of the needs and the barriers humanitarian entrants can face in accessing services. Humanitarian entrants are a small group, and there is a risk of them being overlooked
in the midst of competing priorities in large mainstream agencies.
Our performance examination addressed two key questions:
- Do agencies plan for humanitarian entrants and are services effectively coordinated?
- Can humanitarian entrants access state services and are the services effectively delivered?
What the examination found...
- Humanitarian entrants have complex needs which if not addressed could have serious social and economic
consequences for them and the State.
- Agencies have limited information on how humanitarian entrants use their services and whether they are effective.
- Humanitarian entrants may not be identified as ‘at risk’ in mainstream services until significant problems arise.
- A 2006 State Government review raised concerns but, so far, few of its recommendations have been implemented.
- There are examples that show how approaches to service delivery can be changed to improve access.
- Humanitarian entrants face diffi culties in getting services because:
- agencies have not adequately addressed language and literacy obstacles and considered what is the most effective service delivery approach
- the inflexible application of policies and criteria can prevent humanitarian entrants getting the most appropriate service
- there is a lack of coordination between agencies in providing services to humanitarian entrants, making access to services more difficult.
What the examination recommended...
Agencies should:
- improve their information on humanitarian entrants’ service needs, usage and service effectiveness to support planning and service delivery
- review, in consultation with other agencies, the most effective way of providing access to state government services for humanitarian entrants
- increase learning between services and agencies on which approaches deliver services most effectively to humanitarian entrants have an appropriate range of strategies to address the language and literacy obstacles faced by humanitarian entrants
- identify services where accessibility and effectiveness may be improved through more flexible application of policies or program criteria
- develop a more coordinated approach to the planning and delivery of state government services to humanitarian entrants including opportunities to relocate or collocate.
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