ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: Research

  • Who are the newcomer children in BC? An NCIE Bulletin

    The Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Services Agencies of BC (AMSSA) in February (see immigrantchildren.ca post) launched The Newcomer Children Information Exchange (NCIE) to share information, resources and announce events related to newcomer children in British Columbia.
    One of the proposed activities of NCIE was to regularly put out an information bulletin. From the March 2010 Bulletin:

    “The Bulletin will explore different topics related to newcomer children. There are a number of service providers, educators and researchers currently working with newcomer children to help them succeed, but their work is rarely documented. The ANCIE Bulletins will provide an opportunity to feature some of their work, strategies, service models, success stories and/or research. Each issue will also include a relevant case study“.

    The March 2010 Bulletin is now available. It highlights some demographic facts about newcomer children in BC. The next bulletin will focus on English as a Second Language. Future bulletins will focus on:

    • Early Childhood Education
    • Health and Wellness
    • Refugee Children.

  • FRP Perspectives in Family Support (Spring 2010) special issue on immigrant families

    The Canadian Association of Family Resource Centres (FRP Canada) has released a special edition of their journal, Perspectives in Family Support with a focus on immigrant families:
    In “The Participation of Immigrant Families in the Activities of Family Resource Programs”, Marie Rhéaume reports on a research study conducted in Québéc that examined the issues and “distances” between immigrant mothers and Québécois mothers and found that, overall, family resource centres because of the “values that underlie the work of these community-based organizations, particularly the climate of respect, help build bridges between the two groups”. For more on the study, see here.
    In “Taking an Advocacy With Approach”, as opposed to an advocacy for approach, Lianne Fisher argues for the importance of self-reflection of family resource practitioners who work with newcomers to recognize and resolve possible stigmatizing and marginalizing that may occur when practitioners seek to help newcomers.
    An excerpt of “Phase 2 of FRP Canada’s Welcome Here Project: A Summary Report of Lessons Learned”, also available on the FRP Canada website welcomehere.ca.
    The issue of cultural adaptation and/or interpretation v. simple translation is covered by Betsy Mann in “Reflecting on Issues of Translation and Interpretation”.
    Researcher Dr. Judith K. Bernhard writes on “What are the Essential Elements of Valid Research? The Problem of ‘Data’ and their Collection in Cross-Cultural Contexts” from a personal viewpoint as both an immigrant to Canada and now a practicing academic in immigrant-family related studies.

  • Consequences of losing a lawful immigrant parent to deportation

    The International Human Rights Law Clinic, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (UC, Berkeley) and the Immigration Law Clinic (UC, Davis) have recently released a policy brief entitled “In The Child’s Best Interest? The Consequences of Losing a  Lawful Immigrant Parent to Deportation”.
    The brief reviews the current state of immigration law in the United States and the impact of the deportation of “lawful permanent resident parents” of more than 100,000 children (of which, more than 80,000 are US citizens).  A harrowing look at the impact of such deportations on children’s lives, education and relationships.

  • School readiness in children with special needs whose first language is not English/French

    In response to community-level needs for empirical data on special populations and on small populations, Dr. Magdalena Janus and her colleagues at the Canadian Council on Learning presents “Patterns of school readiness among selected subgroups of Canadian children: Children with special needs and children with diverse language backgrounds”.
    School readiness between children without special needs and whose first language was either English or French was compared to the school readiness of children with special needs whose first language was neither English/French.

  • UNESCO report on bi- & multilingual education in the early years

    UNESCO has released a report “Enhancing learning of children from diverse learning backgrounds: Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education in the early years“. Dr. Jessica Ball reviews research and practice and addresses the importance of multilingual education for young children. The review will:

    “(1) inform policy-makers of existing research and practices in mother-tongue instruction in early childhood and early primary school years; and
    “(2) raise awareness of the value of maintaining the world’s languages and cultures by promoting and resourcing mother tongue-based education for young children”.

  • Call for papers: Special edition on ethnic minority children

    The Society for Research in Child Development journal Child Development Perspectives is seeking papers for a special issue focusing on “positive development of minority children. This special issue will feature emerging trends and new conclusions that have advanced the understanding and knowledge base of positive development with regard to ethnic minority children”.
    Deadlines for abstracts is May 15, 2010. For more information, see the SRCD website.

  • Listening to families: Responding to (newcomer) families

    Sponsored by the Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs and the Family Support Institute of Ontario and funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, a trio of Ryerson University researchers have developed a book and DVD based on research they conducted with families across Canada. The results provide early childhood practitioners with best practices in working with newcomer families, families living in poverty and families with children with special needs.
    For more information on the Listening to Families: Reframing Services project, visit the Ryerson University research update page.

  • No right to dream: New research on undocumented migrants, UK

    Commissioned by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the research project “No Right to Dream: Young Undocumented Migrants” will be conducted in three regions (London, North West and the Midlands).

    From the brief: “The research will therefore focus on the voices of young undocumented migrants about which little is known and will explore and develop the key themes around lives and livelihoods including: experiences of employment; social networks; community involvement; links and obligations with friends and family in their country of origin; how being undocumented impacts on their lives and the longer term goals and aspirations of young undocumented migrants”.

    For more information, including PDF briefs in English, Portuguese, Chinese, Kurdish, Turkish, Ukranian, Sbona, Ndeble at the Young Undocumented Migrants website.

  • EU study on traditional harmful practices

    The European Union has commissioned a study to investigate traditional harmful practices. From the website harmfulpractices.org, this description of the study:

    “The Study aims at providing assistance to the European Union in defining and harmonising its action to end Harmful Traditional Practices, based on proven actions in Europe and elsewhere in both policy and practice. The Study shall, in particular, break new ground for the EU and provide concrete paths forward in relation to both harmonisation of legislation and policy and action at grassroots and governmental levels.

    “For the purpose of this Study, harmful traditional practices will include: female genital mutilation/cutting; honour-related violence including so-called honour killings; forced marriage; force feeding or starvation for cosmetic purposes; other violent and coercive acts justified on the grounds of tradition, culture or religion that harm the well-being of those who are victims of them, with particular attention to the impact on women and girls”.

    The study will examine legislation in all 27 member states of the EU, look at case studies of successful and unsuccessful persecutions, and discuss and develop indicators and responses from civil society to harmful traditional practices.

    For more info, visit the study website.

  • forcedmigration.org podcasts

    Forced Migration Online has available for downloading a collection of audio podcasts. The latest addition is the Harrell-Bond Lecture by former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, entitled Beyond Blankets: In search of political deals and durable solutions for the displaced.
    The Forced Migration Online podcast series includes lectures and discussions between experts from academia, practitioners and policy-makers and displaced persons.