Family Reunion Integration Service
Helping reunited families thrive in the UK.
People who have been separated by war, conflict or natural disaster have the right to be reunited with their families.
Often, one or two family members will leave their home country first to seek safety abroad as a refugee. Our refugee and family reunion services can then help them bring over their other family members, often their wives and children.
There is little formal support to help reunited families get health, education, housing and welfare services.
We previously ran a Family Reunion Integration Service (FRIS) to support refugee families throughout their reunion and integration journey. FRIS is now part of our family reunion services.
On this page, you can find research and resources produced through our family integration services to help practitioners support reunited families.
The best ways to support reunited refugee families: lessons learned through research
Through a collaboration with Barnardo’s child specialists, we’ve explored how focusing on children during the integration process can affect the wider family.
Our academic partner, Queen Margaret University, published research that provides evidence of the impact of social connections on people’s experience of integration.
We have published three pieces of research to help practitioners in the field give the best support to reunited refugee families.
Learn about the research:
- Together at last: supporting refugee families who reunite in the UK - a Red Cross research report that highlights how simple changes would help refugee families to get the support they need to build a life in the UK.
- Pathways and Potentialities: the role of social connections in the integration of reunited refugee families, Research Findings and Implications (PDF) - a research report by Queen Margaret University exploring integration as a journey and the five stages of social connections.
- ‘Step by step’: the role of social connections in reunited refugee families’ navigation of statutory systems - an article on families' accounts of navigating statutory systems.
Help us provide support for refugees
The British Red Cross is the biggest non-government provider of refugee services in the UK. A regular gift means we will be there through their whole journey to a settled life here.
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Are you a refugee who needs help?
Find out about our refugee services.
Every refugee matters
We want to see a more compassionate way to support refugees. Stand with us.
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A collective of refugees and people seeking asylum, the VOICES network speaks out about issues that affect them.