ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: US

  • Research on unaccompanied children in the US

    The US-based Center for Public Policy Priorities has released a study of unaccompanied children in the United States who are repatriated to their home countries: A Child Alone and Without Papers: A Report on the Return and Repatriation of Unaccompanied and Undocumented Children by the United States (in English and Spanish, including a two-page summary) is available on the CPPP website.
    A few key highlights:

    • Children are routinely mistreated by US authorities
    • Children are denied legal representation 
    • Children are denied access to their Consulates
    • Safety of children transported back to their home countries is not a major concern
    • Children are often returned to unsafe conditions.

    The research report includes several key recommendations for policy and practice.

  • Reading the world conference

    Reading the World XI – Conference Celebrating Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults will be hosted at the University of San Francisco from March 28-29, 2009. 
     In the words of Professor Emerita Almar Flor Ada:

    “The main topic for this forum is the presentation, study, analysis and celebration of books of literay artistic merit created for children and young adults that present the human experience with respect to its multiplicity and diversity and that specifically promote un-learning biases and prejudice, counteracting racism and exclusion, fostering solidarity and respect for all human beings and protection of all living beings; books that question and address problems, that do not propose merely happy endings but responsible solutions that in short, invite children and young adults to see themselves as protagonists of their own human experience and unite them to embrace it with trust, love and hope and contribute to the creation of a world of equality, justice and peace”.

    For more information, see the conference website or contact Barbara Hood at 415-422-5110, rtwconf@socrates.usfca.edu or Beverly Vaunghn Hock at 650-342-2817, bevhock@earthlink.net.

  • Microsoft is KIND to unaccompanied children

    Microsoft has launched KIND – Kids In Need of Defense – a funding program that will provide unaccompanied minor migrant children in the United States with legal support. $14.5 million is being shared among nine states in the US for the next three years. See the news story at The Seattle Times.

  • National Black Child Development Institute annual conference

    US-based National Black Child Development Institute will hold their 38th annual conference “Our Future: Children in a Global Village” Oct 25-28 in Atlanta, Georgia. Sessions of interest to immigrantchildren.ca readers may include a series of workshops under the category of Cultural Diversity and Culturally Relevant Competence. From the conference website, this description:

    As a nation with increasing cultural and linguistic diversity, successfully addressing these issues in the context of our work with children and families, our organizations, and our interactions with colleagues and other professionals, is an important element of quality.  Workshop presentations will address issues that seek to improve our understanding, knowledge, and skills related to cultural diversity and culturally competent practice, including such topics as:

    – Bilingual education for early childhood & K-8
    – Anti-bias education and anti-racism training
    – Culturally-based education
    – Teacher preparation for a culturally diverse society
    – Effective parental involvement
    – Language and literacy for english language learners
    – Appropriate assessment for culturally diverse children
    – Family values in diverse families.

  • Child Watch Column by Marian Wright Edelman (Children's Defense Fund)

    An excerpt of the Child Watch column of the Children’s Defense Fund, taken from the NAME listserv (National Association for Multicultural Education), posted Aug 22/08:

    Immigration Enforcement: Raiding Children’s Dreams

    “On May 12, 2008, teachers in Potsville, Iowa, interrupted their classes, called the names of some of their Latino students and directed them to report to the principal’s office. Usually, this would mean that they were in for punishment for some infraction. But these children had done nothing wrong. In the principal’s office, they were informed that one or in some cases, both of their parents would not be coming home because they had been taken into custody by federal law enforcement officers.

    “Earlier that day, hundreds of helmeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in combat gear, toting assault rifles, swooped down on the Agriprocessors kosher meat processing plant in this town of about 3,000. With military precision, nearly 400 of the plant’s alleged undocumented immigrant workers were shackled and marched out of the slaughterhouse in single file and herded onto buses and vans. Those rounded up in the raid, one of the biggest in our nation’s history, were transported to detention facilities miles away. The raid not only economically devastated the town but also left in its trail hundreds of children wondering when or even if they would see their parents again. Postville was just one of a series of ICE raids in search of undocumented immigrants.

    “According to a report by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute, “Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children,” there are about five million children in the United States with at least one undocumented parent. The stepped-up ICE raids have put the children of these families at increased risk of separation, psychological distress and economic hardship. These raids have disrupted communities across the country and separated thousands of parents from their children. The majority of these children are American citizens who are integrated into the schools and communities of the only country they know. After the arrest or disappearance of their parents, children have experienced psychological duress and developed mental health problems including feelings of abandonment, separation anxiety disorder, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

    “The ‘Paying the Price’ report states that the raids affect children, who are “emotionally, financially and developmentally dependent on their parents’ care, protection and earnings.” Children and other family members left behind face serious and immediate economic hardships when the primary breadwinner has been hauled off into custody. The majority of the children affected are under the age of 10~many are infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Their immediate needs are for food, baby formula, diapers, clothing and other essentials. One of the great challenges for the communities where raids are carried out is to ensure that no child has been left behind in school, left at home without adult supervision or taken into foster care. Some children have been left in the care of teenagers or even babysitters for weeks and months at a time. Those who suffer the greatest harm in ICE raids are children. If our nation is to make any claim for humanity, children deserve to be protected and cared for when their parents are taken away.

    Related links: 

    The Children’s Defense Fund

    Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children. 

    The Right to Learn: Access to Public Education for Non-Status Immigrants (Community Social Planning Council of Toronto).

  • Migrant Head Start

    A local Idaho newspaper reports last week on the success of a Head Start program specifically targeted to children of migrants, including farm and other seasonal workers.
    The ED of the program, Irma Morin when asked about the value of such a program, said “Without Head Start we would need more resources in our public school system at the elementary level to work with children who have not had exposure to education, nutrition, social interaction and language”. 

  • Resources from BRYCS

    A few resources posted during a recent discussion on child care for refugee families from the BRYCS listserv. BRYCS is the US-based organization Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services. 

    Enhancing Child Care for Refugee Self-Sufficiency: A Training Resource and Toolkit
    Family, Friend and Neighbor Child Care Providers in Recent Immigrant and Refugee Communities

  • Harvard study on immigrant children in the US

    The Harvard Graduate School of Education has released results of a 5 year study on immigrant children in the United States. Among the findings: immigrant girls tend to fare better than immigrant boys. A Newsweek article, reporting on the study, quotes researcher Marcelo Suarez-Orozco: “girls are able to retain some of the protective features of their native culture because they’re kept closer to the hearth while they maximize their acquisition of skills in the new culture by helping their parents navigate it“.
    Related link: Immigration Studies @ NYU, devoted to the study of immigration with a focus on children, youth and families.

  • In Memoriam: Zelma Henderson, Brown v. Board of Education

    Zelma Henderson, last surviving plaintiff of the historic Brown v. Board of Education case, died last week in Kansas. While Brown v. Board of Education was not a challenge to the right to education for immigrant or refugee children, it remains a pivotal event in the rights of minority children to education in the US and elsewhere.  There are many news reports: search on “zelma henderson brown v. board of education” in google, for example. Also, visit the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic website.