Balgopal and contributors explore ideas and skills that help human service workers, social workers, helping professionals, and policymakers deepen their understanding of newly arrived immigrants and refugees.

The United States has always been a land of immigrants and a destination for refugees. With the increase in immigration in the late 1980s—when the number of refugees entering the United States nearly doubled as well—the number of clients needing social work services rose dramatically. Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Refugees takes an ecological systems perspective on working with these two distinct groups, paying special attention to the relationship between individuals and their social environment.

Focusing on the major immigrant groups who have come to the United States since the 1965 Immigration Act, the book contains chapters on immigrants and refugees from Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Pallassana R. Balgopal and contributors explore ideas, concepts, and skills that will help human service workers, social workers, helping professionals, and policymakers deepen their understanding of cultural attitudes toward newly arrived immigrants and refugees, thus strengthening their ability to better serve an ethnically diverse clientele.

Pallassana R. Balgopal is professor of social work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Marshall Jung, Riverside, California:
Rich in demographic information regarding Asian immigration to the United States and the issues many face once havin arrived.

The United States has always been considered a land of immigrants, but since the massive increase in immigration in the late 1980s, when the number of incoming refugees doubled, this cliche has become very real. This massive influx of people requires a variety of social work services to help immigrants adapt to their new land, and this book is designed for those who must fill this need.