Funded Projects

Providing Anticipatory Guidance for Migrant Infants

Project Year

2025

City & State

Chicago, Illinois

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Immigrant/Migrant/Refugee/Undocumented Health

Program Description

Problem  The relocation of migrants at the Southern United States border to “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago started in 2021. Since August 2022, there has been an influx of greater than 50,000 new arrivals to Chicago, many of which are seeking asylum from predominantly South and Central American countries (1). A large proportion of these migrants are children, with some sources estimating up to 25% of these new arrivals to be under the age of 18 (2). Among the most vulnerable of these migrant children are infants. The infant period requires frequent and close follow-up with medical professionals which can be difficult for newly-arrived parents to keep up with. In addition, migrant children face a complex set of challenges to accessing quality healthcare including language barriers, financial strain, fear of the medical system, threat of deportation, and lack of a support system (3). At the peak of this influx of new migrants, there were almost 30 shelters in Chicago providing housing to over 15,000 people (4). Now, many migrant families have resettled through state assistance programs as shelters have closed (5). They will continue to face barriers in accessing routine pediatric care and anticipatory guidance in their new communities.  Primary Setting  Some of the highest rates of migrant resettlement are in the western neighborhoods of Chicago such as Austin, Hermosa, and Belmont-Cragin (6). We are partnering with Northwest Center, a non-profit, community organization located in Belmont-Cragin which works with new migrants in this area.  Number of Children Affected  Though difficult to quantify the number of infants who have migrated and since resettled throughout Chicago, the Chicago Public School system reports serving upwards of 7,000 new migrant students who have arrived since 2022 (7). Other reports estimate as many as 17,000 new students (8). Based upon these statistics, we can infer there is a high number of young children and infants affected. The number of migrant pregnant women is also substantial based upon Cook County Health reports and implies imminent future need for well-infant care (9).   Project Goal  The primary goal of this project is to understand the needs of migrant families and their infants in order to create and disseminate culturally-tailored infant anticipatory guidance for newly-arrived migrant families in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood of Chicago.   Proposed Intervention Our project will focus on educating migrant families about infant anticipatory guidance through lecture series, hands-on activities, and distribution of well-infant toolkits. Families will be recruited through marketing materials disseminated to the community by Northwest Center staff. We will host three sessions with Northwest Center in a community space accessible to participants. We will meet consistently with Northwest Center to discuss logistics and marketing. With their input on community needs, we will develop culturally-tailored programming on infant anticipatory guidance in Spanish. We will also create a well-infant toolkit for hands-on learning during sessions that participants can take home. These kits will include items such as: an educational pamphlet in Spanish summarizing session teachings, an infant reading book, diapers, and a blanket to practice swaddling. We hope to foster community building for these newly arrived families while simultaneously promoting child health.   Anticipated Outcomes Through pre and post-participation surveys, we anticipate that participants will demonstrate an increased understanding of infant safety and child development to uplift migrant infant health. As a long-term goal, we hope to establish a strong partnership with Northwest Center. We also hope to create an outlet for resident work within the migrant community in Chicago through a longitudinal and sustainable programming series on well-child anticipatory guidance.

Project Goal

To mitigate some of the unique barriers to healthcare faced by newly-arrived migrant children while promoting child health and safety through the development and delivery of culturally-tailored anticipatory guidance programming in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood of Chicago. 

Project Objective 1

From June to September 2025, we will gain a better understanding of this community’s needs and demographics (in collaboration with our community partner) and create evidence-based and culturally-sensitive program material (educational pamphlets, lecture outlines translated into Spanish, and well-infant toolkits).

Project Objective 2

From August to October 2025, we will recruit resident volunteers to assist with sessions and advertise the program to the community with the help of Northwest Center staff through dissemination of flyers to local schools, community sites, and online community forums. 

Project Objective 3

From October to May 2025, we will implement the program material and host 3 educational sessions with migrant families in a local community space. We will collect pre and post-survey data to assess for increase in parent knowledge on session topics as well as parent attitude on utility of the sessions to guide improvements in future programming. 

AAP District

District VI

Institutional Name

Northwest Center

Contact 1

Ashley Maras, MD

Contact 2

Emily Bowen, MD