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By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer
ATLANTA—The new interim director of the Catholic Social
Services refugee resettlement program, Susan Pavlin, said that she hopes to
make improvements in the process of serving refugees through CSS, particularly
strengthening partnerships with parishes.
Pavlin, who is an attorney with experience in immigration and
refugee resettlement, said, “One of the benefits of going through a
difficult period is the opportunity to reexamine the way the program is run at
all different levels.”
She has been hired as the interim program director, working on a
part-time basis, at least 25 hours a week, and will remain to complete a
variety of tasks until a permanent director is hired.
A graduate of Vanderbilt University, she received her law degree
from the University of Illinois in 1993 and has worked in business immigration
law for the firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker in Atlanta from
1994-99. She has also been a pro bono attorney for immigration services of
Catholic Social Services, directed by attorney Sue Colussy.
Since 1999 Pavlin has been a case manager for the International
Rescue Committee in Atlanta and has managed refugee resettlement for refugees
from countries including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Pavlin was appointed to fill the position vacated by the
resignation of Bui Van Tam in October. Tam, who had directed the CSS refugee
resettlement program for over 20 years, resigned following disclosure that some
refugees handled by CSS were placed in an apartment complex where his wife was
a co-owner.
In addition, refugees were being housed in Crescent Hills
Apartments on Cleveland Avenue in Atlanta where conditions were found to be
deplorable.
The CSS program has been undergoing a complete review since the
disclosures, with assistance from the United States Catholic Conference office
of Migration and Refugee Services.
“What interested me was the opportunity to look at an up and
running organization, piece by piece, and see what could be done better and use
that to rebuild,” Pavlin said.
Areas she is looking at are reducing the size of the staff and
strengthening the administrative process and restructuring in terms of
developing stronger leadership and well-defined roles within the organization.
Pavlin said that seven staff members of the refugee resettlement
program were given notice at the end of December that their jobs were being
eliminated. Pavlin said that this was because of budget cuts. She also said
that the number of refugees that would be coming in through the program will be
reduced, which will, in itself, reduce funding and reduce the number of staff
needed to serve refugees.
The staff was evaluated in terms of their facility in various
languages and which languages will be needed to serve the current and future
refugee populations.
“We are trying to match (them) up, making sure we have the
staff to help the refugees coming in,” she said.
The seven staff members all worked directly with refugees in the
field, Pavlin said.
Six case management positions and four job development positions
remain, she said, but over the next 30 to 60 days the positions will be
reviewed and may be modified.
In regard to the case reduction, Pavlin said that the agency had
stopped accepting new refugee cases in one category, called “free
cases,” which are refugees who come without having a family member already
living in this area. The point at which CSS will begin accepting this type of
case again has not been determined, she said.
Jim Kantner, executive director of Catholic Charities, said that a
congressional reduction in the number of refugees being admitted to the United
States will affect refugee programs across the country.
He said that he expected the staff size to be reduced by one-third
when the review was complete.
In the meantime, the CSS refugee resettlement staff will receive
additional training and Pavlin said they are also making administrative changes
internally to improve the program.
A new housing policy developed by Kantner is also being
implemented, she said.
No new families have been placed at the Crescent Hills Apartments,
Pavlin said, and no CSS-placed families remain there who were placed in the
previous six months. However, there are still 10 cases, some individuals and
some family groups, who have been at Crescent Hills for seven to 12 months, who
were placed there originally by CSS; there are also still 15 to 20 cases, some
individuals and some families, who have been there more than a year, who were
placed there by CSS, she said.
Case by case reviews are going on to determine how to respond, she
said. In some circumstances, families who have been at Crescent Hills for a
significant amount of time prefer not to relocate now, Pavlin said.
These cases are being reviewed formally to see “what kind of
financial and other support we can provide,” she said.
In the meantime, a review of the program by the federal Office of
Refugee Resettlement has disclosed that $54,000 in funds that should have been
paid directly to specific refugees in weekly $50 increments in the latter half
of 1999 or in the first seven months of 2000 was not distributed to them.
This applies to refugees who were selected for a Match Grant
program because they were viewed as highly employable when they arrived in this
country. Under a guideline established in May 1999, each adult refugee in the
Match Grant program should have received $50 a week, or approximately $200 a
month, in cash for personal expenses of his or her own choosing. The sponsoring
agency, in this case CSS, was responsible to disburse the funds according to
the guidelines.
In an interview, Kantner confirmed that the funds, in many cases,
were not distributed to eligible refugees as cash payments as required. In some
of the cases, he said, records show that CSS spent that amount, or more, on
various items the refugees needed, such as clothing, but that the specific
directive to give cash payments was not followed or is not clearly recorded.
“According to the letter of the law, if they were not given
the cash allowance to do with what they wanted, that was where the failure
was,” Kantner said.
While the audit is underway, he said it appears that the funds
went to administrative and operating costs.
“It looks like the funds were channeled into hiring of
workers and administrative and operating costs of the program.”
Pavlin said that the refugee resettlement program is “going
through a comprehensive financial audit of all cases since the policy was
implemented in May 1999 to document exactly what was given and not given”
to refugees who were in the Match Grant program.
Kantner said he expects that when the audit is done and the
records reviewed, those who should have received the funds and did not will be
given any funds they are due.
In addition, Pavlin said, a comprehensive “program budget
review” is being done of the program, which includes several different
contracts in support of different programs by MRS.
One refugee interviewed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution stated
that not having the funds left him unable to buy food. Pavlin said that
refugees are not eligible to enroll in the Match Grant program until they have
been in the country for 30 days. Those enrolled in the program are also
eligible for the food stamps program and Medicaid, she said. Usually they are
able to go to work within a few weeks and food stamps eligibility is determined
within 30 days. Rent is paid separately, she said.
“There are many safety nets in terms of food stamps, rent and
constant contact with caseworkers,” Pavlin said. “I see very many
safety nets as well as the more human touch. They do have access to and contact
with caseworkers.”
One area that is being looked at for the future is “putting a
really strong priority and commitment to developing parish partnerships,”
Pavlin said. “I look at that as a lynch-pin to going forward from
here.”
Several levels of involvement, including one-time projects,
one-on-one volunteers, and adopting a family, are available.
She has tried to meet with as many of the parishes as possible who
are already involved in parish partnerships and a meeting was held Jan. 10 at
the Catholic Center.
“Our goal over the next year is to really create strong
parish connections,” she said.
Kantner said the agency will also review the kinds of family
relocations that have been done in the past and evaluate how best to select
families that can be resettled well by CSS. |
