Immigrant & Refugee Family Resources

colorful student artwork featuring a red lighthouse shining yellow, orange and red geometric rays of light out over the blue green ocean

Every child in Guilford County has the Constitutional right to attend school regardless of immigration status.

The Guilford County Schools does not request or record information about a student’s immigration status. Federal and state laws protect student information from disclosure to others, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). GCS does not permit non-students, including ICE agents, access to GCS facilities unless they can produce a warrant signed by a federal judge. School administrators will not permit the disclosure of confidential student information without first consulting their attorney to make sure that the information has been properly subject to a federal judge’s warrant.

Families should consult community resources to learn their rights and additional information will be provided to help families access these resources.

Know Your Rights

Resources from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):

Additional resources from the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP):

Know your Rights with ICE

Resources for Families & Community

Immigration Advocacy Groups

The below groups provide advocacy services to immigrant and refugee families in the Guilford County community. Click the links to open their websites to learn more about each advocacy organization.

Organization	Contact
Church World Services	Foundation Place, 330 S Greene St Second Floor, Greensboro, NC 27401 Phone: (336) 617-0381
FaithAction International	2211 W Meadowview Rd # 10, Greensboro, NC 27407 Phone: (336) 379-0037
Center for New North Carolinians (CNNC), UNC-Greensboro	915 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro NC 27403 Phone: 336-334-5466
Eastside Immigrant Community Center (EICC)	500 Banner Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
African Services Coalition	122 N Elm St #1010, Greensboro, NC 27401 Phone: (336) 574-267
World Relief Triad	155 Northpoint Ave Suite 102, High Point, NC 27262 Phone: (336) 887-9007
YWCA Latino Family Center	155 W Westwood Ave, High Point, NC 27262 Phone: (336) 882-4126
Out of the Garden Food Pantry	300 NC-68, Greensboro, NC 27409 Phone: (336) 821-2450

Triad Area Immigration Attorneys

The below groups provide legal services to immigrant and refugee families in the Guilford County community. Click the links to open their websites to learn more about each organization or law firm.

Organization	Contact
Center for New North Carolinians (CNNC), UNC-Greensboro - non-profit center providing legal supports and referrals	915 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro NC 27403 Phone: (336) 334-5411
Holy Cross Catholic Church - non-profit center providing legal supports and referrals	616 Cherry St., Kernersville, NC 27284 Phone: (336) 996-5604
McKinney Immigration Law - private attorney providing legal services	910 N Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401 Phone: (336) 275-5885
Burgos Law - private attorney providing legal services	164 Baker Rd., High Point, NC 27263 Phone: (336) 803-7797
Chapman & Roberts, P.A. - private attorney providing legal services	403 N Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401 Phone: (336) 334-0034

Muslim Discrimination

Family Preparedness Toolkits

Emergency Plan Templates

Helping Children Cope with Stress

Tips for Parents and Caregivers from the Institute for Disaster Mental Health

Stressful events can be difficult for children to understand and to manage. Children’s reactions to stress and trauma are unique to each child, and they’re also affected by his or her age and developmental stage. It’s important to remember that the way you handle your own reactions will directly affect how well your children manage their reactions to stressful events. Helping your child feel safe by providing reassurance and routine is critical.

What Can You Do For Your Child When Stressful Events Happen?

Families provide protection, love, security, a sense of identity, and nurturing and support for all members. These are important strengths to draw on during stressful times, and there’s a lot that adults can do to help children cope with difficult experiences. Adults bring a lifetime of experience, whether positive or negative, to stressful events, which will impact how we respond to new situations. Adults can draw on these experiences and know they can cope and move through a stressful event. Children, however, often do not have many life experiences to draw on. Your child will look towards important adults for guidance and reassurance. Adults need to be physically and emotionally available to children during stressful times.

Other ways to help your child:

Whenever possible, children should be in a familiar environment with people they feel close to.
Keep your child’s daily routines the same as much as possible. There is comfort in having things be consistent and familiar.
Limit the amount of exposure to distressing media images.
Provide brief and honest communication based on what you think your child can best manage.
Honor your child’s need to talk about the event; try to have time alone together, when possible.
Encourage your child to play sports and games with peers, when possible.
Older children may withdraw emotionally or need time alone apart from the family. Try to encourage them to talk with friends.
Let your child know how you are feeling, so they understand their feelings are also valid. At the same time, talk about what you are doing to cope and manage your feelings, and how as a family you all can help each other.

Understanding children’s common responses to stressful events can help adults prepare for how they might respond. It’s normal to expect that your child may have problems with eating, sleeping, toileting, and schoolwork, and they may show unusual emotions and behaviors. There may be other specific reactions depending on your child’s age and level of development, like the following.

Where Can You Get More Help?

Many families can cope without outside help. However, there are times when reaching out is important – when the stress is too much or your child’s reactions are different or bigger than usual. Extended family members or religious leaders may offer needed help, but sometimes when the stress is ongoing, it can be helpful to seek out more information or to talk with a trained professional who can provide more support.

Click here for GCS Mental Health Resources

Typical Reactions to Stress and Trauma by Age

Children Under 3 Years Old

Child’s Response:

Children can be more irritable, cry more than usual
They may act like a younger child; they may return to bed wetting after they have been toilet trained
They may be frightened to be without parents nearby

Suggestions for Parents:

Hold your child more often to reassure and soothe the child
Keep the child with parents, other family members, and familiar caregivers
Keep routines the same to help your child feel that things are safe and predictable

3 to 5 years old

Child’s Response:

These children can remember events
They may see death as a reversal condition
They may be concerned that the event may occur again which can prompt angry or sad feelings

Suggestions for Parents:

Listen to and tolerate the child’s retelling of event
Respect the child’s fears; give child time to cope with fears
Increase monitoring and awareness of child’s play, and set limits on scary or hurtful play
Let the child try out new ideas to cope with fearfulness, such as extra reading time, or having a radio on or music in the middle of night to undo effects of fearful nightmares
Your child may overhear conversations about the event or hear or see coverage from the media. Although your child may not understand what they are hearing or seeing, they may feel scared or anxious, or act out. Do your best to:
- turn off the television when your child is around
- not talk about the event in your child’s presence
- remove magazines and newspapers with images of the event from your child’s view

6 to 12 years old

Child’s Response:

At this age, children will begin to understand the permanence of loss
They may become preoccupied with the trauma and talk about it over and over

Suggestions for Parents:

Encourage the child to talk about traumatic events with family members
Provide opportunities for young people to spend time with friends who are supportive
Reassure them that strong feelings, whether of guilt, shame, or a wish for revenge, are normal following a trauma
Do not offer false reassurance
Encourage pleasurable physical activities such as sports and exercise
Talk with your child’s school counselor or school social worker to learn about their school’s crisis plan. Review the plan to your child to help them feel prepared and less anxious.
Encourage your child to talk with their teacher, school counselor, or school social worker if they are feeling upset at school.
Limit the media coverage that your child is exposed to – the less the better.
Your child may overhear conversations about the event or hear or see coverage from the media. Although your child may not fully understand what they’re hearing or seeing, they’re likely to have thoughts about the images or information. If your child has been exposed to media coverage or knows about the event and feels fearful, listen to their fears and provide them with a safe place to talk. You do not need to share additional details about the event with your child.

Teens

Child’s Response:

Adolescents will realize that death is permanent, but may deny it.
They may engage in dangerous or risk taking behaviors as a way to deal with strong emotional reactions.
They may not be able to talk about intense feelings; therefore, the adolescent may emotionally withdraw and avoid social activity.
They may seek additional information about the event.

Suggestions for Parents:

Be aware that even though the responses may be adult-like, the child may not actually be coping well.
Encourage your adolescent to talk with friends, other family members, and individuals at school or in the community.
Encourage your teenager to talk with their teachers, school counselor, or school social worker if they are feeling upset at school.
Discuss the impact of media – what they’ve noticed and what they think about what they’ve heard. Most importantly: Talk about what they can do to feel safe and calm when they hear distressing news coverage.

Elementary Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools

Specialty Schools

In This Section...

Immigrant & Refugee Family Resources

Know Your Rights

Resources for Families & Community

Immigration Advocacy Groups

Triad Area Immigration Attorneys

Muslim Discrimination

Family Preparedness Toolkits

Emergency Plan Templates

Helping Children Cope with Stress

Typical Reactions to Stress and Trauma by Age

Children Under 3 Years Old

3 to 5 years old

6 to 12 years old

Teens

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