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Information on taking refugees into our homes

frogwoman said:
One of our clients (from syria, before the war started) was *very* islamophobic and kept slagging off muslims, he also saw a news item about nick griffin on question time and when i went in to work one day started asking me about him and telling me he thought he was right (this wasnt in the UK and it it was about 5 years ago)

You need to be prepared for things like that. Someone whose fled a warzone or any other sort of persecution isnt going to necessarily have tolerant views, they're not gonna be the easiest person to be with a lot of the time (as you wouldnt be) and may have pre existing MH issues that were there before the war. There are people fleeing syria who are islamophobic, there are people there who support bashar al assad and fled rebel-held regions, people who are gonna have views you strongly disagree with. There are also gonna be people who have serious drug and alcohol problems, anger management issues etc or just someone who may be very pushy and always demanding stuff etc - just like in the uk. You need to be patient but you also need to be aware that they might be difficult or even someone that you wouldn't 'like'

I am not trying to put you off btw! Just letting you know what issues you could face. Good luck :cool:
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i was at primary school with someone from lebanom, who'd fled the civil war there. he had ptsd, which would manifest without warning..
 
Pickman's model said:
i was at primary school with someone from lebanom, who'd fled the civil war there. he had ptsd, which would manifest without warning..
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I wasn't going to assume people would be grateful and chip in around the house! I'm well aware that this could be one of the toughest things someone could do with regards to helping people in this situation.

That's another reason why I opened the thread. Perhaps I should have done a pole to see how many on here would or wouldn't and if not why not.
 
Maharani said:
Perhaps I should have done a pole to see how many on here would or wouldn't and if not why not.
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You still can due to the magic of xenforo! If you go to 'Thread Tools' at the top of the theads first page it will let yo add a poll. Ma asked me the question this morning as a hypothetical and I have to say no. I've only got a sofa in the living room and the dogs a bit mardy and I'm sick so I'd be a liability rather than help
 
Maharani said:
I wasn't going to assume people would be grateful and chip in around the house! I'm well aware that this could be one of the toughest things someone could do with regards to helping people in this situation.

That's another reason why I opened the thread. Perhaps I should have done a pole to see how many on here would or wouldn't and if not why not.
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I think that the sentiment of your idea is admirable but how many of us would pick-up total strangers on the street and invite them to live in our homes? Especially if we have kids or other potentially vulnerable folk.

This isn't much different is it?
 
Spymaster said:
I think that the sentiment of your idea is admirable but how many of us would pick-up total strangers on the street and invite them to live in our homes? Especially if we have kids or other potentially vulnerable folk.

This isn't much different is it?
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Well quite. Again, my OP does ask how one could go about it on the correct way. I wouldn't take in someone off the streets in the same way hostels don't without referrals from outreach or other agencies. There has to be some sort of checks done. This could be a nightmare due to language difficulties, mental health problems or any other number of personal issues the refugee(s) might have. This is exactly why I started the thread, to gain opinion and for people to ask sensible, relevant questions.
 
Maharani said:
There has to be some sort of checks done. This could be a nightmare due to language difficulties, mental health problems or any other number of personal issues the refugee(s) might have.
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And making those checks is going to be virtually impossible given the breakdown in administration and structure of the places they've come from. Background checks, medical records, etc. Nothing.

As it is, in many (most?) cases you'll only have the word of the individuals that they are who they say they are, and come from where they say they do. Certainly not the basis upon which I'd offer someone my home.
 
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Maharani said:
I don't think it's as simple as letting them in until there's a plan. There's no point if there's no infrastructure here or we'll be faced with 1000's upon 1000's of street homeless. I'd like to know what they're doing in Germany or Turkey even.
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Last i checked there were 3000 in Calais. We can manage that. In fact Cameron has just announced he's letting more in but they won't be from Calais, they'll be from Syria.

One of the things they are doing in Germany id an air bnb style thing. Where refugees are matched up with people with spare rooms. It's spread to some other countries too iirc

Actually that reminds me... there's a refugee spare room website here. I'll see if I can find it.
 
I would definitely say no - I would not even consider this unless there was a fully functioning support network as working with refugees (or indeed, anyone in crisis) is always fraught with many difficulties...and worst of all is if you find yourself absolutely stranded with no support from social services, or other statutory agencies...and I speak from long experience of dealing with several homeless people with all the related baggage. When you assume responsibility for someone, you can find yourself utterly isolated - I was unable to file a missing person's report or make contact with GPs as I was not the official next of kin. Whilst I absolutely applaud the intentions behind this idea, I would be inclined to suggest that this should not be entered into as a desire to help without a network of official funding and support behind you. Frogwoman has already mentioned some of the personal issues and when the legal, financial and other obstacles start to mount up, you can find yourself in a lonely place and worse, have to renege upon the offered support. Do not do this alone, please.
 
poptyping said:
there's a refugee spare room website here.
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Satire is dead.

JJrcGMNO_400x400.jpeg
 
Maharani said:
I wasn't going to assume people would be grateful and chip in around the house! I'm well aware that this could be one of the toughest things someone could do with regards to helping people in this situation.

That's another reason why I opened the thread. Perhaps I should have done a pole to see how many on here would or wouldn't and if not why not.
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they may well be grateful and thry may chip in round the house but they may also have needs you cannot readily satisfy, whether for understanding or support. it is as well to enter this sort of project knowing what they may need beyond a roof over their head and food in their belly.
 
Spymaster said:
And making those checks is going to be virtually impossible given the breakdown in administration and structure of the places they've come from. Background checks, medical records, etc. Nothing.

As it is, in many (most?) cases you'll only have the word of the individuals that they are who they say they are, and come from where they say they do. Certainly not the basis upon which I'd offer someone my home.
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There is actually a growing blackmarket for Syrian documentation. German post office intercepted a load yesterday
 
Also please dont take this the wrong way but a lot of people on this website (including myself) are easily offended at times, what happens if you have (for the sake of argument) a christian from raqqa living with you and one day they start saying a bunch of shit about islam and muslims? Or if they are shocked to see gay couples walking down the street and the like if they come from an area where that could get you killed? At the very least, it will be a huge culture shock for both of you, and bear in mind that a lot/most of these people will have come from extremely conservative societies and be shocked or at least very unused to some of the things they see here (and vice versa). They might have serious PTSD symptoms and have panic attacks or start being aggressive to you/other people - are you prepared for this? Are you prepared/are you financially able to have someone that is legally not allowed to work / has to work illegally / has no money and has the frustration of having to sit around at home for what may be months, waiting for their claim to be processed let alone any temporary documents well as dealing with any kids or any psychological issues from whats happened to them? what happens if you become aware of any safeguarding issues involving the kids?

These are all situations that used to happen where I worked btw, well before the current crisis, and the majority of these people had been well educated in their home country as well as having links to the country we were working in, they knew it well and in many cases had lived there for years before returning to their home country and having to flee.

Im not trying to put you off honestly but im not sure the average person in the uk can really be best suited to doing this, it's something you have to think about very carefully. If you can that's great (and it looks like you're doing everything you can already and are fairly knowledgeable and have previous experience of it with the rough sleeper) but it really is something that has to be thought about very carefully.
 
Maharani said:
I don't think it's as simple as letting them in until there's a plan. There's no point if there's no infrastructure here or we'll be faced with 1000's upon 1000's of street homeless. I'd like to know what they're doing in Germany or Turkey even.
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10,000 are being housed in German military barracks and the Germany army is putting up tents in public squares.

Don't know what Turkey or Lebanon are doing, seen nothing on the news. How do you house a million people. Now attitudes have finally changed surprized the news agencies haven't bought up footage of that reality. If nothing else it would help with countering those people at the bottom the internet that claim (wrongly in legal terms) they are only refugees in the first county they come to.
 
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gosub said:
10,000 are being housed in German military barracks and the Germany army is putting up tents in public squares.

Don't know what Turkey or Lebanon are doing, seen nothing on the news. How do you house a million people. No attitudes have finally changed surprized the news agencies haven't bought up footage of that reality. If nothing else it would help with countering those people at the bottom the internet that claim (wrongly in legal terms) they are only refugees in the first county they come to.
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Lebanon's been taking people in from Syria since the war started, and while I don't think the Turkish government has done anything official (apart from to try and queer the pitch for the Kurds) there's lots of Syrian refugees in Turkey.
 
kebabking said:
when those good intentions only seem focused on whats fashionable?

the OP could have walked into their local town centre and found someone who needed a bed for the week, a shower and good meal in half an hour last night. no need for interpreters or complicated administrative procedures - but that person wasn't on the news, and would probably be bringing less fashionable 'issues' into the OP's home....
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Many of the homeless people you find sleeping rough in the "local town centre" will be those who won't (or can't use hostels or other free beds for personal reasons - from drink or drugs use policies to PTSD-induced claustrophobia - rather than because there's nothing on offer.

It's not about what's fashionable, it's about what's practical.
 
poptyping said:
Nope. That's why she said she wanted to find a way to do this legally. In the OP.

No doubt her heart will be wrenched when she goes to Calais and will want to help all the people she meets. But that's a normal human reaction. She's taking about helping refugees who are already here.

Eta: really tho there's a global humanitarian crisis going on. People who dismiss people's efforts to help , particularly as trendy, need to have a word with themselves. And often as another poster said they even doing anything to help 'our own people' first anyway. Uggggh.
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I've already had several rows with members of the "charity begins at home" mob. A lot of them don't "get" that compassion doesn't end at Dover.
 
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