Like
hundreds of refugees before him, Mu Kpaw began a new life in America
with the help of Catholic Charities, the most visible and active social
service agency in the Diocese of Allentown.Mu, 35, had fled turmoil in Burma as a young man, crossing into Thailand and spending years in a refugee camp. In 2007, his fortunes changed, as Burmese refugees who had registered with the United Nations were allowed to resettle in the United States.
Catholic
Charities brought Mu and his wife and three children over and, in a
typically ecumenical way of doing business, partnered with a Methodist
church that helped the family find housing and employment. They settled
in Emmaus and have since moved to Lower Macungie Township.
But Mu, now an American citizen with a job at a lighting company, still stays in touch with Catholic Charities.
"I do contact them in case of things I am not familiar with," Mu said, speaking of the occasional cultural puzzlements or bureaucratic mysteries that can challenge newcomers. "There are so many things I don't know about."
Mu is a success story, one of some 1,400 since Catholic Charities started its refugee resettlement program in 1975 to aid Vietnamese fleeing their homeland after the fall of Saigon.
But the program has quietly ended. So has the agency's venerable foster care program, which found stable families for hundreds of children displaced from their homes by domestic troubles.
In the first case, federal funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement — part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — has been a target of deep cuts in recent years and continues to face the knife. The appropriation recommended for 2013 by a House budget subcommittee is $658 million, about $112 million less than the current year.
The decline in federal funds has meant fewer clients for the public and private agencies that partner with the government in resettlement. Catholic Charities Executive Director Pam Russo said the agency placed 137 refugees in the 2010 fiscal year, 69 the following year and 43 through the middle of this year.
At that point, the agency decided to get out of the resettlement business. However, Russo said it will continue to assist families that have already been resettled, providing job assistance and other services. And traditional immigration services, such as document assistance and citizenship classes, will continue.
The foster care program was dropped because of an increased emphasis by the state on in-home counseling and other strategies aimed at keeping families intact. That dramatically cut the number of children in need of foster care, Russo said. The agency placed 147 children in 2008 but only 41 this year. It had placed nearly 700 since 1991.
With those programs gone, Russo said the agency — which was incorporated as the Catholic Social Agency in 1961, the year the diocese was founded, and known by that name until 2005 — will redirect its resources across the diocese, which includes Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.
It has cut seven positions, mostly because of the dropped programs, and will move forward with 42 employees managing what is generally a massive clientele, especially in recessionary times. Last year alone, the agency aided more than 32,000 people.
But Mu, now an American citizen with a job at a lighting company, still stays in touch with Catholic Charities.
"I do contact them in case of things I am not familiar with," Mu said, speaking of the occasional cultural puzzlements or bureaucratic mysteries that can challenge newcomers. "There are so many things I don't know about."
Mu is a success story, one of some 1,400 since Catholic Charities started its refugee resettlement program in 1975 to aid Vietnamese fleeing their homeland after the fall of Saigon.
But the program has quietly ended. So has the agency's venerable foster care program, which found stable families for hundreds of children displaced from their homes by domestic troubles.
In the first case, federal funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement — part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — has been a target of deep cuts in recent years and continues to face the knife. The appropriation recommended for 2013 by a House budget subcommittee is $658 million, about $112 million less than the current year.
The decline in federal funds has meant fewer clients for the public and private agencies that partner with the government in resettlement. Catholic Charities Executive Director Pam Russo said the agency placed 137 refugees in the 2010 fiscal year, 69 the following year and 43 through the middle of this year.
At that point, the agency decided to get out of the resettlement business. However, Russo said it will continue to assist families that have already been resettled, providing job assistance and other services. And traditional immigration services, such as document assistance and citizenship classes, will continue.
The foster care program was dropped because of an increased emphasis by the state on in-home counseling and other strategies aimed at keeping families intact. That dramatically cut the number of children in need of foster care, Russo said. The agency placed 147 children in 2008 but only 41 this year. It had placed nearly 700 since 1991.
With those programs gone, Russo said the agency — which was incorporated as the Catholic Social Agency in 1961, the year the diocese was founded, and known by that name until 2005 — will redirect its resources across the diocese, which includes Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.
It has cut seven positions, mostly because of the dropped programs, and will move forward with 42 employees managing what is generally a massive clientele, especially in recessionary times. Last year alone, the agency aided more than 32,000 people.