The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of different types of Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) status (traditional URM, victims of trafficking, SIJS, and asylees) on availability and quality of community services (legal assistance, education, mental health, and employment) using a qualitative approach. All nine staff working with a URM resettlement program were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, and transcriptions were thematically analyzed. The results of the study suggest that staff are able to identify unique needs of youth by status, but are unable to recognize and discuss how that impacts youths’ experiences from service providers in the broader community. Most staff shared victim blaming explanations for differences in service utilization among youth without acknowledging systemic explanations. The author concludes with study limitations, recommendations for applied practice, and directions for future research.
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