Broken promise: After fleeing Taliban, Afghan families feel neglected by Charlotte agency

Some newly arrived migrants from Afghanistan say they have run out of food and have been unable to get sorely needed medical care in Charlotte, where they’re starting over their lives after fleeing turmoil in their home country.

In one instance, a family says they used sugar water in their daughter’s bottle because they couldn’t afford baby formula. Another family told a volunteer helping them transition that they were using a bucket to bathe because their new apartment lacked a working shower.

Others say they’ve walked miles to get groceries because of a lack of transportation.

In the case of three mothers who recently gave birth, there were problems ranging from little prenatal care to trouble getting a ride home from the hospital, according to the women, their husbands, and the volunteer.

“We’re human,” said Najmuddin Ahmadi, in a recent interview through an interpreter. “We (have) fundamental needs.”

In Charlotte, Catholic Charities agreed to meet those needs.

Catholic Charities is a local resettlement agency managing the cases of just over 200 Afghan evacuees who fled the Taliban. It says it ensures Afghan families have adequate food, clothing, transportation, access to medical treatment, and more.

The Charlotte Observer spoke with more than a dozen people, including a doctor, volunteers and evacuees from nine families from Afghanistan, most of whom have been living in two hotels near Pineville since relocating to North Carolina. Most say they think the agency managing evacuee resettlement cases has insufficient and unresponsive staff, including language translators — something officials with Catholic Charities deny.

Ahmadi, 28, a former security supervisor at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, arrived in Charlotte on Dec. 28 with his pregnant wife and two young children. The family evacuated amid violence and political upheaval as the U.S. withdrew its troops. They then waited on a Wisconsin military base for months before being flown to Charlotte.

It’s been harder than they imagined. They’ve occasionally run out of food. To make do, Ahmadi and his wife filled a baby bottle with sugar water so his daughter would fall asleep one night, he said.

Without citing any specific families, Catholic Charities said its case workers got no request for formula. “If we had,” the statement said, “that is something we would act on immediately.”

The agency is one of two local organizations managing resettlement, with help from federal funds, of an estimated 320 people from Afghanistan. Statewide, more than 1,200 people are here or expected soon.

Catholic Charities has been doing this type of work for more than 40 years in the Charlotte region, responsible for resettling close to 14,000 refugees from worldwide conflict.

In response to the allegations, the agency said it cannot publicly discuss specific clients’ circumstances — but added that many of the situations migrants and volunteers described to the Observer would be against their organization’s policy. And Catholic Charities leaders say they’ve followed policy.

Catholic Charities says that while many evacuees are still waiting for food stamps activation, it provides food, money for groceries and transportation regularly to the store. For families with babies, they say they provide adequate essentials, like diapers, and that pregnant clients are able to see a doctor for prenatal care within a month of arriving, unless they give birth sooner.

“Catholic Charities has done remarkable work resettling more than 200 evacuees uprooted from their homes into the Charlotte area, working overtime to attend to their needs and make their transition as smooth as possible,” said Gerry Carter, executive director and CEO of Catholic Charities in Charlotte, in a statement to the Observer. “Our Afghan families are now living in safe housing, with kids enrolled in school, adequate food, access to healthcare, in job training or already working in our economy – and on a path to become thriving, self-sufficient members of our community.”

Still, some volunteers not affiliated with Catholic Charities — and Afghans interviewed by the Observer recently — blame the agency for recent problems.

For example, while Catholic Charities says its case workers are in frequent contact with evacuees, some told the Observer they call the number given to them by the agency to request help with food, health care and more, and get no response.

And while some families say they’ve not had enough money for food or consistently been taken to shop for groceries, the agency says it doesn’t restrict how much the families spend on groceries and takes them on regular trips to the store.

Several evacuees who spoke to the Observer requested anonymity, saying they’re worried criticism would jeopardize the services they receive.

One Afghan migrant, Abdullah Rahmatzada, said that while he had enough money to buy food for his family, other families had little or no money of their own and had to rely on donations — provided by people unaffiliated with Catholic Charities — to keep their children fed.

The federal government provides $1,225 per Afghan evacuee to the resettlement agency to be used on their behalf. Catholic Charities says most of this money goes toward rent, while food money comes mostly from the agency’s own coffers or from donations. Another $1,050 per evacuee from the federal government covers agency staffing and costs to deliver services.

While non-government assistance — through volunteers and donations — has long been common in the U.S. in the effort to help refugees and evacuees like those from Afghanistan, critics say they’re finding problems locally that should be handled by the official resettlement agency.

Hardships to resettlement

Complaints shared with the Observer in recent weeks stem from Catholic Charities’ cases but it’s unclear if Afghan families under the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency’s program face similar problems. It is also unclear just how widespread the complaints are for families under Catholic Charities’ care.

Most families recently relocated to Charlotte are enrolled in services and support programs similar to refugee programs, but their legal status is different. Many were allies to the U.S. military during the war and faced immediate threats and harm once the Taliban swept to power last year, taking Kabul, the capital city, in August.

They spent months on U.S. military bases before arriving in their new home cities. In some cases, military veteran groups and volunteers not directly affiliated with resettlement agencies have provided donations and support.

That includes a group of Charlotte residents, who say they have spent thousands of dollars of their own money on food, household supplies and clothing.

Leading that effort is Geeta Amiri, a Charlotte resident — previously an Afghan refugee herself. Amiri said she has seen empty refrigerators for large families and people without winter coats.

She’s complained to a representative from Catholic Charities, she said, telling that person: “They (will) one day be American. They will never forget this happened to them.”

She’s driven women in labor to the hospital and picked them up, alleging the agency’s case workers didn’t organize transportation. Women who have recently given birth do not have sufficient diapers, formula or other essentials for newborns, several people including Amiri told the Observer.

“Where is this agency?” Amiri said. “What are they going to do?”

According to Catholic Charities, its case workers and language translators have been effective in helping new arrivals with everything from school enrollment to getting jobs. Access to health care is challenged — by limited availability of appointments, resources strained by COVID-19 and federal government delays to provide Medicaid cards — but the agency says they work hard to be proactive, including to ensure pregnant women have prenatal care.

Generally, resettlement agencies work with individuals and families in their first month to 90 days in their new home, with some longer-term assistance available.

Afghan arrivals and some volunteers allege the agency does not have sufficient staff, including enough translators and case managers to promptly respond to needs. The agency, though, says it’s sufficiently staffed with two caseworkers directly assigned to the most recent arrivals, plus two case aids and the refugee program director.

In its statement, Catholic Charities said: “... Our caseworkers are extremely accessible and proficient in responding to the multitude of calls from clients who have questions or need assistance. They do of course have to prioritize their response based on the level of need, but they strive to return all meaningful calls as soon as possible — and they immediately respond to emergencies or seek help to do so.”

A challenge widely acknowledged by both local groups and refugee advocates is a devastating lack of affordable housing in Charlotte. The Observer has previously reported that many Afghan families, including children, would be boarded in hotels or short-term rentals upon arrival.

Although all migrants involved can count on living expenses to be paid for the first 30-90 days, there are few housing options that would remain affordable to them after government support stops.

Resettlement groups have sought out landlords who have apartments around $1,000 monthly — a rarity in Charlotte, especially for units large enough for big families.

From Kabul to Charlotte, they’ve found refuge. ‘Home’ is much harder.

A small number of Afghan families recently got help from Catholic Charities to move into an apartment complex in east Charlotte, off Albemarle Road. In one unit, a family did not have a working shower or toilet and resorted to taking baths using a bucket in the tub, according to Amiri, who also shared with the Observer photos of the apartment and a video showing a large hole in the bathroom door.

Catholic Charities says it inspects every apartment or house before evacuees move in and “an apartment with a non-working shower or toilet would not have passed our inspection.”

“According to our caseworkers and inspection records, toilets and showers were functional upon occupancy of every apartment where we have placed our clients, and they are encouraged to contact the landlord if something breaks and is need of repair,” Catholic Charities said in a statement.

Seeking medical care

For refugees, evacuees and other migrants to the U.S., the process of government health insurance enrollment can take weeks, leaving 911 and emergency rooms as a primary option for medical treatment.

Still, it has been difficult to reach Catholic Charities for coordinating other medical care and appointments, particularly for those Afghans who speak almost no English, several people told the Observer.

In late December, a doctor — not hired by Catholic Charities — who administered a pop-up clinic at a hotel housing several Afghan families confirmed to the Observer that some of the migrants were running out of medications for chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

A man in his late 40s and a woman in her early 50s, interviewed in early January, each say they have lingering pain from previous health problems but have been unable to see an orthopedist or other specialist.

The man, who asked his name not be used, held his injured shoulder close to his body throughout the interview. The woman arrived here with her 13-year-old daughter after her son, who worked with American forces, was killed in Afghanistan. She said she has been unable to schedule an appointment to address consistent knee pain.

Both arrived in Charlotte about two months ago after staying long stretches of time on U.S. military bases.

“The level of neglect is just, it’s hard to even tell you everything,” said Sara Wilkerson, a Charlotte resident who has helped organize assistance for the migrants. “It is so immense.”

Ahmad Shirin, a former Afghan interpreter who now lives in Charlotte, said families under Catholic Charities care have also complained to him that they were not able to see a doctor other than by calling 911.

Catholic Charities says the government’s health care system requires primary care appointments before seeing a specialist, which may explain some cases of delay.

It says it has submitted Medicaid paperwork for all but one person (who is missing documents) and that currently most evacuees are enrolled. The remaining are expected to be approved later this month, which should alleviate the issue of relying heavily on ERs or prolonged waits to see specialists. The wait was due to government delays, according to the agency.

“Nevertheless, anytime a client makes us aware they are in pain or has other health concerns they don’t consider an emergency, our caseworkers will take clients to urgent care or the Emergency Department as soon as possible — often the same day,” the agency said in a statement.

It added that it recently held a mass sign-up clinic with Atrium Health and got 131 evacuees registered in their system. With Medicaid cards, they will be coached on how to make their own appointments, the agency said.

The doctor who hosted the pop-up clinic — Jonathan Wilson, with Project 658, a Charlotte non-profit — said it can be difficult for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants to get settled into the American health care system. With the most recent Afghan arrivals, it has seemed especially challenging, he said.

“If I had (to flee my country) I would hope there would be some locals who could kind of take us under their wing and lend a hand,” Wilson said.

Afghan family uprooted — again

It’s unclear if state or federal offices responsible for overseeing refugee resettlement are aware of the complaints about living conditions of Afghan families in Charlotte.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the state’s refugee assistance program, didn’t respond to specific questions from the Observer and instead sent a statement which said, in part: “The NCDHHS is in regular contact with these service providers and work with partners across the state to ensure that refugee arrivals are provided with culturally and linguistically appropriate services to support their pursuit of integration, independence, and self-sufficiency.”

For at least one family, that pursuit of independence led them out of Charlotte altogether.

In December, Abdullah Rahmatzada says, his wife went into labor in a hotel room the family was provided by Catholic Charities in Charlotte. He called 911 as he’d been directed to do and his son was delivered at the hospital. He was born with clubfoot.

Rahmatzada, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul before fleeing Afghanistan, says Catholic Charities helped set up pediatric health appointments in the first two weeks after the baby’s birth, but says he was told that he could not get an appointment for an orthopedic specialist for the infant.

He worried that the baby would have long-term problems if they waited much longer.

So, even before he was a month old, the family left.

Rahmatzada, his wife and their baby, Orhan, are living in Greenville, S.C., now. Orhan is being treated at a children’s hospital there.

Rahmatzada says he was disappointed to have to leave Charlotte — uprooting his family again.