Social Support

Social support means lots of things, depending on the family’s needs. Some things it can mean:

  • Helping schedule and transport family members to early healthcare appointments. In the early weeks and months there are LOTS of doctor’s appointments, immunizations, or other healthcare needs.

  • Helping kids get enrolled in school and, at times, serving as a liaison between teacher and parents if the parents’ English skills are not yet developed enough to handle emails, phone calls, and parent-teacher conferences.

  • Helping transport an adult to the BMV to get a learner’s permit - and helping locate the driver’s manual in the family’s native language (available from BMV).

  • Helping adults set up a bank account and learn how to do online banking transactions.

  • Attending birthday parties or meals prepared by the family.

  • Hosting the family for an outing or in your home for a meal.

A group of people sit on a couch in the home of a recently-arrived Afghani family to celebrate a child's birthday.
Sharon Boller poses with three members of the Alhamwi family after doing holiday cookie baking together.