E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
NCIIP: Children and Family Policy

NCIIP: Children and Family Policy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Cover image for Four Strategies to Improve Community Services for Unaccompanied Children in the Unit
Policy Briefs
December 2022
By  Jonathan Beier, Lauren Farwell, Rhonda Fleischer and Essey Workie
Photo of a preschool teacher reading to students.
Commentaries
November 2022
By  Jacob Hofstetter, Alexis Fintland and Maki Park
Image of an infographic showing key DLL stats
Fact Sheets
October 2022
By  Ivana Tú Nhi Giang and Maki Park
Cover image for Overlooked but Essential
Policy Briefs
October 2022
By  Maki Park, Jacob Hofstetter and Ivana Tú Nhi Giang
Cover image Cultural Competency Secrets to Success with Immigrant and Refugee Families
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh
Cover image for Growing Language Skills with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh

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Cover image for Overlooked but Essential
Policy Briefs
October 2022
By  Maki Park, Jacob Hofstetter and Ivana Tú Nhi Giang
Cover image Cultural Competency Secrets to Success with Immigrant and Refugee Families
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh
Cover image for Growing Language Skills with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh
Cover image for Better Responses to Differing Immigration Statuses: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Work
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh
Cover image for Building Trust with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Work
Policy Briefs
May 2022
By  Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh
Cover image for Advancing Digital Equity among Immigrant-Origin Youth
Reports
February 2022
By  Essey Workie, Lillie Hinkle, Anna deDufour and Valerie Lacarte

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Video, Audio
June 16, 2021

MPI experts discuss a framework describing the most critical elements that should be included in standardized, comprehensive DLL identification and tracking processes for early childhood systems, based on program and policy needs.

Video, Audio
April 21, 2021

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.

Flickr SweetwaterISDCowen Early Childhood CenterNationalTeddyBearDay
Video, Audio
August 28, 2019

Marking a policy brief's release, this webinar explores the promise of home visiting services that support new parents alongside their infants and toddlers, plus strategies for improving how these programs work with immigrant and linguistically diverse families.

FLICKR UN Women Arab States  Jordan   Empowerment through employment for Syrian refugee women in Jordan
Video, Audio
April 3, 2019

During this webinar, speakers provide an overview of an MPI policy brief that seeks to raise awareness of the intersection of trauma and early childhood development, and how U.S. early childhood programs could more effectively address this trauma in young children in refugee and immigrant households. The participants discuss efforts to integrate trauma-informed approaches into early childhood systems and how home visiting services can effectively address trauma and mental health through a two-generation approach.

flickr 21st Century Classroom 4571643113_f2e840ee38_z
Video, Audio
June 27, 2018

Marking the release of an MPI brief, experts on this webinar examine the key features of English Learner (EL) instructional models and discuss state- and district-level approaches to supporting schools in implementing effective EL program models, with a particular focus on what is being done in New York and M

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Recent Activity

Reports
October 2016

Somali and Bhutanese refugees are two of the largest groups recently resettled in the United States and Canada. This report examines factors that might promote or undermine the mental health and overall well-being of children of these refugees, with regard to factors such as past exposure to trauma, parental mental health, educational attainment, social support, and discrimination.

Articles

The Head Start program—a model for early childhood education programs nationwide—has served more than 33 million children since its inception half a century ago, many from immigrant families. This article examines the role of Head Start in the education of Dual Language Learners, who now comprise one-third of enrollees, and discusses how recent policy changes may affect this population.

Video, Audio, Webinars
August 25, 2016

This webinar explores the key education funding mechanisms in place to support English Learner elementary and secondary students in the United States, public conversations about funding, and efforts to improve the equitable distribution of educational resources.

Reports
August 2016

With English Learners (ELs) representing nearly 10 percent of U.S. elementary and secondary students, many school districts are struggling to develop the capacity to meet the needs of children from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. This study provides an overview of supplementary funding mechanisms to improve EL outcomes, examining policies at state and local levels, and making recommendations for improvement.

Policy Briefs
August 2016

At the fourth anniversary of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, this issue brief describes the populations eligible for DACA as of 2016; discusses recent policy developments; presents trends in DACA requests and application rates nationwide, by state, and for top countries of origin; and examines the impacts that DACA has had on qualifying young unauthorized immigrants.

Video, Audio, Webinars
June 23, 2016

Report authors and an ELL professional discuss the mechanics of school funding and the specialized services provided for migrant-background students in the United States, Canada, France, and Germany. Speakers also highlight the choices facing policymakers who seek to use supplementary funding to better support effective, high-quality education for children from immigrant and refugee families.

Reports
March 2016

This report examines how refugee families in Massachusetts access early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for their children through the refugee resettlement system. It examines how working parents in refugee families navigate and make use of ECEC services and looks at the institutional and systemic challenges that refugee families face in accessing stable, high-quality ECEC options.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 23, 2016

MPI analysts discuss the findings of a report comparing young children of refugees to other U.S. children on several key indicators of well-being. 

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