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Catching Kids Before They Fall Part 2 IN SEARCH OF THE 1. Cambodian and Vietnamese youth
2. Girls
3. Violent, chronic juvenile offenders Records showed that Asians as a whole were doing well academically and financially. But Japanese and Korean subgroups were skewing the curve upward. Newer Asian immigrant populations-specifically, Cambodians and Vietnamese -were encountering extreme economic and social deprivation. Substance abuse, domestic violence, and teen pregnancy were prevalent in these subgroups. Among Cambodian and Vietnamese youth, both males and females showed high rates of school suspensions, expulsions, and dropping out, as well as early entrance into crime. Alarming, too, was the growing gang affiliation among these Southeast Asian groups. So the Delridge section of West Seattle, where the High Point complex houses many immigrant families, became a project target area. At the neighborhood middle school, counselor and intervention specialist Ginny Kalkoske is involved in SafeFutures' Interagency Staffing Group, a coalition of organizations that pool information and resources to better serve the community's children. Kalkoske's job involves intervening when kids act out. That can mean meeting with the student, talking to parents, or appearing before a judge. After seven years at Denny Middle School, she's seen it all-and heard what it looks like from the students' side. As children of immigrants and refugees, she says, "they're struggling to acculturate-to learn the language and fit in," not an easy task. "Often, it leads to a denial of ethnic culture and background as they try to be as American as possible." Kids feel disconnected from both their Cambodian heritage and their American environment. The identity crisis that sends most teens for a spin hits these kids like a tornado. They find themselves asking: "Am I American? Am I Cambodian?" The solution, Kal- koske believes, lies in finding some balance-recognition of both. The SafeFutures project provides counseling, too. Warya Pothan, a Cambodian immigrant who works with SafeFutures, notes the dire need for mental health assistance in this community. "Most of these kids were born after all the killing," she says, referring to the murderous four-year reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, when about one-third of the Cambodian population was executed. "But they have grown up through intense grieving." Half of the parents Pothan encounters were raised by substitute parents. On their way to America, most lived in concentration camps in Cambodia or refugee camps in Thailand. Primarily peasant farmers from rural Cambodia, they are ill-prepared for life in an American metropolis. Both language and culture begin to divide them from their children. Stories of family rifts are commonplace. Often, the power pyramid has been turned upside down. Kids gain the upper hand through language. They translate and interpret-often to their own advantage -for their non-English-speaking parents. In one case, a teen who came home in the back seat of a squad car explained to his parents that he had done so well in school that he had won a special honor, a police escort. Another teen got $10 from her parents for getting two As. When the mother proudly showed Pothan the report card, however, Mom was startled to learn that the As were for gym and art classes; in fact, her daughter was failing primary academic subjects. And there's a cultural divide on other issues, such as the Western dating scene and the American school system. To help Cambodian families adjust, the project requires parenting classes for participants' parents. Classes cover social and cultural issues, with guidance from a curriculum designed for adults who don't read or write. "Most of these parents have never gone to school," Pothan explains. "They have to memorize everything because they can't take notes."
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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