The Refugee and Migrant Centre (RMC) supports families settled in Wolverhampton and Walsall on the Home Office “Syrian Resettlement Scheme”
The Syrian Resettlement Scheme was first announced in January 2014 and in September 2015 the expansion to 20,000 refugees was made across the UK. RMC has supported over 120 individuals on the programme.
Pre-Arrival
Before arrival, the Resettlement team prepared housing and completed needs and risks for each person to understand their different needs. Each person had their required support package delivered with tailor made provisions completed before arrival depending on need.
Arrival and initial support
On arrival, the Syrian families were greeted at the airport by the RMC team and taken to their new homes. Food packages were given and some initial money to get them started before the team began the induction process.
The inductions included tours of the local area, introductions to key services, visits to GP’s and dentists and support for children to begin school.
Alongside this, families were taken on trips and tours, family activities planned and all welfare, benefits and immigration matters were supported with.
Long term development
Within just a few years, the families had developed their skills and language to help their integration into UK life with many in employment and several having set up their own businesses.
All of this is whilst still often supporting families with additional medical and inclusion based needs and the difficulties of fleeing war and arriving in a new country which in itself can be a huge barrier to overcome.
After all this suffering, I am back to living and loving my life again. After all these troubles, I came to the UK via the resettlement programme and now live in Wolverhampton with my family happily. I am especially happy with RMC because they gave me plenty of support to help get my life on track, and so that I can support my family. I’m learning English to understand people here, volunteering with different projects and doing my best to integrate into the community to achieve a good future for me and my family in the UK.
