Family Functioning and Migration: Considerations for Practice

International migration is increasingly dominated by family considerations. Despite conflicts and tensions, the support system of the family is the main agent through which the adjustment to migration occurs. Social workers are in the front line in the treatment and acculturation of new immigrants. The present study explores how 145 social workers, comprising about 70% of those who treat new immigrants in the northern part of Israel, perceive family functioning in two very different migrant populations: arrivalsf rom the former Soviet Union on the one hand, andf rom Ethiopia on the other. Results indicate that practitioners viewed families from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia as less adaptive and more cohesive than the norm. Families from the former Soviet Union, however, were seen as more adaptive and less cohesive than families immigrating from Ethiopia. Implications for culture sensitive practice are suggested