Mar 2, 2005

Addressing Health, Educational, and Socioeconomic Disparities of Children in Immigrant Families
 will be held on  May 25 and 26, 2005, Wednesday and Thursday (half day) at 6001 Executive Boulevard, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852. The funders for this workshop are 

National Institutes of Health

• National Institute of Child Health and Development
• Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch
• Child Development and Behavior Branch
• Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

 
Purpose of workshop

  More than one in five children in the United States today is in an immigrant family, either immigrant him or herself
 or the child of an immigrant.  This includes 86 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander children and 65 percent of Hispanic
 children.  Although only about 8 percent of Black/African American children are in immigrant families, the share is 
growing. Until we understand immigrant families, we will not be able to fully understand disparities in health,
 education, and other types of well-being among Asian, Hispanic, and, increasingly, Black/African American children.  

 The purpose of this workshop is to encourage interdisciplinary research on children in immigrant families,
 particularly research that draws on the strengths of both social and behavioral scientists.  Strengths of social
 scientists include understanding of legal and policy constraints on access to health care, important ethnic, 
cultural, linguistic, and economic differences within broad racial/ethnic groups; patterns of transnational and
 with-U.S. migration and population distribution that affect children's access to health care, education, and
co-ethnic communities.  Strengths of developmental scientists include understanding of children's developmental
 trajectories, including insights into individual variations, and age-specific language skills.  Research on children
 from children from immigrant families will be enhanced if the strengths of both social scientists and behavioral 
scientists are included.  

Proposed sessions

• The New Immigrant Survey: Design, preliminary findings, and future plans
• Educational Outcomes and Challenges (includes language)
• Health challenges for children in immigrant families: Poverty,culture, and other factors (Includes infant mortality and morbidity, exposure to lead and pesticides, infectious diseases)
• Research challenges: Cross cutting issues and the importance of multidisciplinary research
• Wrap up and suggestions for future research