||Immigration, Children and Families:
What Professionals Need to Know
The United States population is becoming increasingly diverse,
due in large part to immigration. Within several
decades, ethnic and racial minority groups may
represent a majority of the total population. This
growing diversity increases the need for professionals to be culturally
sensitive and competent in order to best respond to the needs of
the individuals and communities to whom they provide services.
Did you know?
- Immigration to the U.S. may be motivated by war, natural disaster,
economic hardship, or political struggle in the country of origin.
- Latinos are the largest minority group in the U.S., constituting
15% (44.3 million individuals) of the total population.
- Asian Americans currently make up 4.2% (12 million individuals)
of the total population, and this number is growing rapidly.
- Census data shows that immigrant children comprise approximately
20% of the U.S. child population, and this figure
is expected to increase to 30% by 2015.
- An estimated 11-12 million undocumented immigrants
reside in the U.S. Of these individuals, 88% are from Latin America,
and 84% of their children are under the age of
- Five million children in the U.S. have at least
one undocumented parent. Two-thirds of these
children are U.S. citizens.
The Impact of Immigration on Low
Income Families and Children
Challenges Facing Immigrant Families
The process of transitioning to life in a new country can be difficult
and stressful for immigrant families. Conflicts may emerge as parents
and children adapt to a new culture and way of life.
- Immigrant parents may experience unemployment, discrimination,
and social isolation, and may fear that their children will lose
their cultural heritage. These challenges may cause stress for
the family as a whole, disrupting familial roles and patterns
- Immigrant families living in poverty may lack adequate housing
and/or access to healthcare and education.
- Immigrant parents often face language barriers and feelings
of marginalization and isolation, and as such may be less involved
in their children's education and may not seek out important services
provided in English-dominant settings, such as health care and
mental health care.
- Many immigrant children learn English more quickly than their
parents. In families where children translate and facilitate communication
on behalf of their parents, conflicts may emerge as power shifts
from the adults to the children. Children may selectively filter
the information they share with their parents, and parents may
monitor their children less closely.
Psychological Impact of Immigration on Young Children
- Children in immigrant families tend to embrace new cultural
values and behaviors more rapidly than their parents. Children
may feel self-conscious about their native culture, and this can
contribute to tensions within the family.
- Immigrant children often find themselves within a stressful
clash of divergent cultures, including
- Their parents' culture from their native country
- Mainstream American culture
- Racial and Ethnic minority cultures that have developed
within the US
- As immigrant children develop multicultural identities that
may differ from their parents', they may experience increased
stress, which can contribute to increased vulnerability to psychological
distress, adjustment problems, poor school performance, and maladaptive
behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use.
- Immigrant children facing the challenges mentioned in the section
above report lower self-esteem and experience more daily hassles
than non-immigrant children.
- Children of undocumented immigrants may experience increased
fear and anxiety at the prospect of parental arrest or deportation.
Impact of Parents' Arrests and Deportation for Children
of Undocumented Immigrants
Each year, 1.6 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are
arrested and/or deported. As a result, families may be fragmented
or may live in hiding or isolation, and children may experience
general instability and confusion, economic difficulties, and the
interruption of schooling.
Consequences of such situations include:
- Disappearance of one or both parents is a traumatic experience
for children. Feelings of loss or abandonment, as well as separation
anxiety, are common.
- Children may feel anger toward parents and may act out or display
- Children may feel ashamed, outcast, and criminalized because
their parents were arrested.
- Children may become distressed or depressed due to family separation,
social isolation, and exclusion from the general community.
- Common changes in behavior as the result of parental arrest
or deportation include: loss of appetite, aggressiveness, sleep
problems, and decreased cognitive and academic performance.
- The incidence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is higher
among adults who were separated from their parents during childhood.