NCIIP: Children and Family Policy

Policy Briefs

April 2024

Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services

Young girl talks to a child psychologist

iStock.com/Lacheev

Infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) services can offer vital support for young children’s healthy development. Yet, young children in immigrant and refugee families often do not benefit, due in part to lower levels of health-care coverage and limited cultural responsiveness in the field. This issue brief explores the benefits and barriers to supporting these children via IECMH services, and some ways to close key gaps.

Reports

April 2023

A Path to Meeting the Medical and Mental Health Needs of Unaccompanied Children in U.S. Communities

Latina teenager in medical office with clinician

iStock.com/FatCamera

As the number of unaccompanied children entering U.S. communities has increased, many have faced barriers to accessing critical medical and mental health services. This report explores common barriers to care, promising practices for overcoming them, and strategies for strengthening services. It draws on interviews and focus groups with clinicians, social workers, and others working with this population as well as one-time unaccompanied children themselves.

Commentaries

November 2022

Apprenticeship Programs Are a Promising Solution to Bring More Multilingual Workers into Early Childhood Field

Photo of a preschool teacher reading to students.

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

Shortages of workers continue to plague early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems across the United States. With the field already struggling to effectively serve young children in families that speak languages other than English, apprenticeship programs offer a promising solution to bring more—and more multilingual—workers into early childhood careers.

Fact Sheets

October 2022

Dual Language Learners: Key Characteristics and Considerations for Early Childhood Programs

A group of preschoolers listen to a story

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

How many Dual Language Learner (DLL) children live in your state, and what share do they comprise of all children under age 5? What languages are most commonly spoken in their households? Answers to these and other questions that are critical to the design and implementation of early childhood programs that reach all children equitably are presented in a series of state-level data fact sheets.

Policy Briefs

October 2022

Overlooked but Essential: Language Access in Early Childhood Programs

A mother and toddler walking into a school

iStock.com/Fly View Productions

Dual Language Learners (DLLs)—young children with a parent who speaks a language other than English at home—benefit greatly from early childhood programs, but they also enroll at lower rates than their peers. This policy brief looks at federal and state language access policies that aim to make such programs more accessible to DLLs’ families. It also examines persistent gaps in participation and ways to address them.

Policy Briefs

May 2022

Cultural Competency Secrets to Success with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Working Practices

Parents and their young child at a naturalization service.

Kelsey Bell/U.S. National Archives

As the United States becomes more diverse, changes in the cultural makeup of communities can challenge longstanding practices in human services delivery. This brief explores strategies service providers can employ to build their understanding of and responsiveness to the cultures of the communities they serve, leading to better outcomes for immigrant and refugee families.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs October 2020 Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Home Visiting: Innovative State and Local Approaches By Caitlin Katsiaficas	Commentaries March 2020 The Public-Charge Rule: Broad Impacts, But Few Will Be Denied Green Cards Based on Actual Benefits Use By Randy Capps, Julia Gelatt and Mark Greenberg
Multimedia August 28, 2019 Effectively Serving Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families through Home Visiting Programs	Policy Briefs August 2019 Leveraging the Potential of Home Visiting Programs to Serve Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families By Maki Park and Caitlin Katsiaficas
Commentaries August 2019 Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration By Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Mark Greenberg	Reports April 2019 Immigrant Families and Child Welfare Systems: Emerging Needs and Promising Policies By Mark Greenberg, Randy Capps, Andrew Kalweit, Jennifer Grishkin and Ann Flagg
Multimedia April 3, 2019 Addressing Trauma in Young Children in Immigrant and Refugee Families through Early Childhood Programs	Policy Briefs April 2019 Mitigating the Effects of Trauma among Young Children of Immigrants and Refugees: The Role of Early Childhood Programs By Maki Park and Caitlin Katsiaficas

Pages

Reports October 2016 Mental Health Risks and Resilience among Somali and Bhutanese Refugee Parents By B. Heidi Ellis, Erin N. Hulland , Alisa B. Miller, Colleen Barrett Bixby, Barbara Lopes Cardozo and Theresa S. Betancourt	Reports August 2016 Funding an Equitable Education for English Learners in the United States By Julie Sugarman
Policy Briefs August 2016 DACA at Four: Participation in the Deferred Action Program and Impacts on Recipients By Faye Hipsman, Bárbara Gómez-Aguiñaga and Randy Capps	Reports March 2016 Challenges in Accessing Early Childhood Education and Care for Children in Refugee Families in Massachusetts By Jeff Gross and Christine Ntagengwa
Reports March 2016 Young Children of Refugees in the United States: Integration Successes and Challenges By Kate Hooper, Jie Zong, Randy Capps and Michael Fix	Reports March 2016 Providing a Head Start: Improving Access to Early Childhood Education for Refugees By Lyn Morland, Nicole Ives, Clea McNeely and Chenoa Allen
Fact Sheets January 2016 A Profile of U.S. Children with Unauthorized Immigrant Parents By Randy Capps, Michael Fix and Jie Zong	Reports October 2015 The Educational Experiences of Refugee Children in Countries of First Asylum By Sarah Dryden-Peterson

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Video, Audio

October 8, 2015

Variations in In-State Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarship Policies for Unauthorized Youth

This webinar discusses the different policies that states have on unauthorized immigrants and in-state tuition, financial aid and other benefits, and the implications for unauthorized immigrant youth seeking two- and four-year college degrees.

EventPH 2015.9.21 LeftBehind HowtheWellBeingof ChildrenisAffectedbyParentalDeportation

Video, Audio

September 21, 2015

Left Behind: How the Well-Being of Children Is Affected by Parental Deportation

A report release where authors discuss the effects of parental deportation on the children of immigrants, the related needs for health and social services, and U.S. policy responses to protect these children.

Video, Audio

September 11, 2015

Growing Up in America: The Extent and Impacts of Discrimination on Young Children from Immigrant Families

On this webinar, researchers explore the types of discrimination that young children of immigrants may experience, the related educational, psychological, and social impacts, and recommendations for addressing discrimination.

EventPH 2015.4.28 Ready to Meet the Needs of All Children A Closer Look at Diversity in the Early Childhood Workforce

Video, Audio

April 28, 2015

Ready to Meet the Needs of All Children? A Closer Look at Diversity in the Early Childhood Workforce

On this webinar, MPI analysts present the findings from their report Immigrant and Refugee Workers in the Early Childhood Field: Taking a Closer Look, and discuss the issue with a leading expert in the field of child-care worker employment.

EventPH 2015.3.31 Unaccompanied Child Migration to the United States Flickr CBP Processing Unaccompanied Children

Video, Audio

March 31, 2015

Child and Family Migration to the United States: Continuing Flows and Evolving Responses

A webinar examining the shifting pattern of Central American child and family migration between 2011 and 2014 and expectations for 2015, the policy challenges presented by the rising inflow, and how states, localities, the U.S. government, and other countries in the region are responding to this recent trend.

Recent Activity

Commentaries

June 2021

A Solvable Challenge: Improving Asylee Access to Health and Other Benefits

While asylees are eligible for many of the same public benefits and services as resettled refugees, including health care and employment assistance, there is no system to inform them of their eligibility and to help connect them to resources. MPI estimates that fewer than 20 percent of those granted asylum in recent years received Office of Refugee Resettlement benefits during their first year. The U.S. government could address this gap with a few simple measures.

Commentaries

June 2021

Rebuilding the U.S. Education System for the Nation’s English Learners

The $122 billion investment that K-12 schools across the United States are receiving from the federal government to address the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on the nation's most vulnerable students represents a key opportunity to help reset the trajectory of education for English Learners (ELs). As states submit their plans for using the funds, community based organizations can be key partners, as this commentary explains.

Policy Briefs

May 2021

Ending the Invisibility of Dual Language Learners in Early Childhood Systems: A Framework for DLL Identification

A large and growing number of young children in the United States have at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home. These Dual Language Learners (DLLs) have been shown to benefit considerably from high-quality early childhood programs, but better data are needed to make sure these services are responsive to the experiences and learning needs of these preschoolers. This issue brief sets out a framework for comprehensive DLL identification.

Video, Audio, Webinars

April 21, 2021

Disparities Facing U.S. Children in Immigrant Families: New Data and Ideas for Indicators to Promote Equity

MPI analysts discuss their analysis comparing key sociodemographic characteristics of immigrant and U.S.-born parents of young and school-age children, along with the two-generational implications of these findings. Speakers also explored potential ways to incorporate measures with an eye to achieving more responsive and effective service designs and improving equity and access more generally for these families.

Fact Sheets

April 2021

Immigrant and U.S.-Born Parents of Young and Elementary-School-Age Children: Key Sociodemographic Characteristics

Parents play an important role in supporting their children’s education, but certain factors—such as limited English proficiency, low levels of formal education, and digital access barriers—can make it difficult to do so. This fact sheet series looks at the characteristics of immigrant and U.S.-born parents of young and elementary-school-age children in 31 states and nationwide, and discusses how taking a two-generation approach to services can benefit entire families.

Commentaries

February 2021

A Deeper Look at the DREAMers Who Could Feature in the Legalization Debate in Congress

The DREAM Act of 2021 could represent one of the narrower legalization measures with better prospects for passage in a narrowly divided Congress. MPI's latest estimates of the DREAMers who could gain conditional and then permanent legal status are offered here, as are the share of DREAMers who feature in another ongoing conversation, around essential workers in the U.S. labor market overall as well as in the health-care sector.

Commentaries

January 2021

Nearly 3 Million U.S. Citizens and Legal Immigrants Initially Excluded under the CARES Act Are Covered under the December 2020 COVID-19 Stimulus

The pandemic-recovery stimulus package that passed Congress in December rectified what many had viewed as a significant oversight in the earlier CARES Act: Its exclusion of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in mixed-status families. MPI researchers estimate nearly 3 million U.S. citizens and legal immigrants excluded from the earlier legislation can receive the later relief, as well as qualify retroactively for the CARES Act payment, as this commentary explores.

Commentaries

December 2020

Anticipated “Chilling Effects” of the Public-Charge Rule Are Real: Census Data Reflect Steep Decline in Benefits Use by Immigrant Families

Researchers, service providers, and others have long predicted that sweeping revisions by the Trump administration to the definition of who constitutes a public charge would deter large numbers of immigrant-led households from using federal means-tested public benefits for which they are eligible. Recently released Census Bureau data show they were right: During the administration's first three years, program participation declined twice as fast among noncitizens as citizens.

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