Charting Directions for Research on Immigrant Children Affected by Undocumented Status

Abstract

Three groups of children from Mexico and Central America are vulnerable to effects of US immigration policies: 1) foreign-born children who entered the US with undocumented immigrant parents; 2) unaccompanied children who entered the US alone; and 3) U.S.-born citizen children of undocumented immigrant parents. Despite the recent demographic growth of these youth, scholarship on their strengths and challenges is under-theorized and isolated within specific disciplines. Hence, service providers, researchers, and policymakers have insufficient research to inform their efforts to support the children’s wellbeing. A group of scholars and service-providers with expertise in immigrant children convened to establish consensus areas and identify gaps in knowledge of undocumented, unaccompanied, and citizen children of undocumented immigrant parents. The primary goal was to establish a research agenda that increases interdisciplinary collaborations, informs clinical practice, and influences policies. This report summarizes key issues and recommendations that emerged from the meeting.

Awakened Hatred and Heightened Fears: “The Trump Effect” on the Lives of Mixed-Status Families

“…It would be imperative to conduct studies that further examine their individual and collective psychological well-being needs. As Zayas et al (2017) suggests, further research is urgently needed on mixed-status families’ resilience, coping, and family processes—especially in relation to family members’ detention and deportation—and examine these families using longitudinal designs.…”

Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit to Care for Newly Arrived Children in a School Nursing Setting

“…A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution related to reasons of race, nationality, religion, political opinion, violence, or war (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, 2020). Included under the term refugee is a subcategory of "unaccompanied children" who entered the U.S without a parent or legal guardian available to offer care and custody at the time of apprehension (Zayas et al, 2017). According to the Administration for Children and Families (2021) more than 409,585 unaccompanied children entered the U.S. in the past nine years; mostly from the Northern Triangle Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.…”

Drawing Out Their Stories: A Scoping Review of Participatory Visual Research Methods With Newcomer Children

“…Alongside these challenges, newcomer children demonstrate tremendous resilience (Didkowsky et al, 2010;Oh, 2012;Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2009). Until recently, the majority of the scientific literature on newcomers has focused on adults or youth, leaving children's perspectives in the periphery (Zayas et al, 2017). When rarely asked to share their perspectives, it is usually in an effort to address a problem or concern; children are positioned as vulnerable and in need of saving (Ajodhia-Andrews, 2016;Liebel, 2017).…”