What do we know about Ayana and her family? What made her case problematic?

Question

Nathan Bierwirth, BSW, worked as an employment counselor for Pathfinders Social Services, a nonprofit agency serving the Minneapolis metropolitan area. Pathfinders provided employment services for people leaving welfare, persons with disabilities, the homeless, and immigrants, refugees, and asylees. Part of Nathan’s caseload consisted of newly arrived refugees enrolled in Minnesota’s time-limited Refugee Cash Assistance–Employment Services (RCA-ES) program. Individualized Employment Plans (EPs) helped refugees transition from welfare to employment and self-sufficiency. EPs required a minimum of 35 hours per week of RCA-ES–approved activities, including employment services and formal education (limited to 20 hours per week). Nathan’s client, Ayana Tuma, a refugee from Ethiopia, had no educational or work experience and knew no English. This prevented her from effectively participating in employment service classes, so she enrolled in a full-time English as a Second Language (ESL) program. When Hennepin County audited Pathfinders, clients like Ayana, who exceeded the 20 hour instruction limit, could be sanctioned and even terminated from the program. As the audit approached, Nathan wondered if he should report Ayana’s ESL hours accurately or falsify her Employment Plan.

Answer 1

There were ten members of Ayana’s family–her parents, an older set of twin brothers, Ibsaa, the next eldest brother, and four younger children. The Tumas were ethnic Oromos who fled Ethiopia in 2003 because of civil unrest. The family fled into Kenya and spent several months living in a refugee camp with thousands of refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia. The family applied for resettlement in the U.S., their application was accepted, and they arrived in the U.S. in July 2003. The case reported very little about Ayana’s family. Her brother Ibsaa, who was 21, attended high school and was studying in college when the family fled Ethiopia. He also spoke some English. Although the case did not indicate this, since Ibsaa was the third son, it would be likely that the oldest twin brothers were also educated and could speak English, too. Ayana, who was 20, never attended any formal education, did not know any English, and had no work experience outside the home. These factors, particularly her lack of English skills, seriously complicated her case. Because she could not speak English, Nathan relied upon Ibsaa to serve as translator and intermediary when communicating with Ayana. This created a host of difficulties, including the assumption that Ibsaa fully and accurately reported what both Nathan and Ayana said, and severely limited his work with her. Abebe spoke Oromo, but was not able to help Ben because of his busy workload enrolling clients into RCA. Without English literacy, Ayana was not just hindered from finding suitable employment, she also could not participate profitably in any of Pathfinders’ employment service programs. Her only work experiences were domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, and child care. Finally, because she and her family were practicing Muslims, none of the adults would accept jobs requiring them to work with alcohol or pork.