​Access to Health Care and Health Status

• Children of immigrants are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured as are children in nonimmigrant families.

• Immigrant children are less likely to have a usual source of medical care and to obtain specialty care when needed.

• Immigrant children who are foreign-born may not have received adequate screenings or immunizations in their home country.

Socioeconomic Factors

• Immigrant children are more likely to live below the federal poverty level than nonimmigrant children, despite the fact that immigrant children are more likely to live with two parents and have parents who work.

• Immigrant children can face barriers to accessing programs and benefits that support low income children.

• Many immigrant children have less access to quality early education programs and are less likely to be enrolled in preschool programs, such as Head Start.
  

Unique Stressors/Family Separation

• Many immigrant children live in a family with a parent who faces the threat of deportation without notice or preparation.

• Children whose parents have been taken into custody/deported may demonstrate a number of health problems including anxiety, depression, poor school performance, sleeping and eating disruptions.

• Forced separations due to immigration enforcement can also result in the loss of family income and have been shown to result in family housing and food instability.

• Children who have crossed the border to enter the United States as well as children who are refugees may have experienced abuse, exploitation, and/ serious trauma.

Additional Resources

• The Future of Children: Immigrant Children. Spring 2011. 21(1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. - The special volume includes articles about immigrant family arrangements, early care and education for immigrant children, poverty among immigrant children and a variety of additional health and education topics.

• Van Hook, Jennifer, Nancy S. Landale, and Marrainne M. Hillemeier. 2013. Is the United States Bad for Children's Health? Risk and Resilience Among Young Children of Immigrants. The report examines the immigrant health paradox and summarizes the research on immigrant child health outcomes and disparities, with a focus on children of Mexican immigrants.

• Crosnore, Robert, 2013. Preparing the Children of Immigrants for Early Academic Success. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. This report explores immigrant children’s disparities in educational outcomes and provides strategies to expand immigrant access to early childhood education and promote partnerships between schools and immigrant families.

• Palfrey, Judith, Myra Rosen-Reynoso, Nerlie Ogilus, and Susan Foley. February 2013. Reducing Health Disparities for Hispanic Children with Special Health Care Needs. National Center for Community-Based Services. This report, prepared for the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, documents the unique cultural and linguistic needs of problems that Hispanic immigrant families of children and youth with special health care needs.

• American Psychological Association (2010). Resilience and recovery after war: Refugee children and families in the United States. Washington, DC. This report addresses the psychosocial health and mental health needs of children impacted by conflict, displacement, and resettlement in the United States.​