Alicia F' Lieberman

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Including and Serving Immigrant Families in Early
Childcare

• Alicia F. Lieberman
• Child Trauma Research Project
• University of California San Francisco
• San Francisco General Hospital

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What Is Unique About Immigrants?

• Linguistic discontinuity
• Unfamiliarity with institutions
• Lack of comfort with new social mores
• Different hierarchy of values

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Childhood Adversity and Minority Status

• Minority children are more likely to be poor
• Risk factors cluster around poverty
• The impact of risk factors is cumulative
• Minority children are more vulnerable to
  traumatic event due to cumulative effect of risk
  factors and less access to services
• (Oser Cohen, 2003 Flor U.S. Surgeon Generals
  Report, 2001)

4
As a Result
American Indians, Alaska Natives, African
Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders,
and Hispanic Americans bear a disproportionately
high burden of disability from mental
disorders. (The Presidents New Freedom
Commission Report, 2003)
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When Systems Compound Risk Child Welfare and
Foster Care

• No race differences in abuse and neglect reports
• Children of color are
• more often placed out of home
• subjected to more placement changes
• kept longer in foster care
• less likely to be reunified with parents
• (Casey Family Programs Child Welfare Fact
  Sheet, 2005)

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When Systems Compound RiskJuvenile Justice
Placement

• Youth of color more likely to be arrested for
  same offenses as white
• Projected 10-year increase in juvenile justice
  placement
• White 3
• American Indian 17
• African American 19
• Latinos 59
• Asian/Pacific Islander 74

(Leiber, 2002 Snyder Sickmund, 1995, 1999)
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Our Children are Waiting
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What Can We Do?Take Action

• Early education Pre-K, starting at birth for
• those who need it
• Inter-system coordination in early
• identification and mental health referral
• 
  (Sam Meisels, 2006)

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What Can We Do?Apply What We Know

• Early intervention is most cost-effective,
• regardless of immigration status
• school readiness decreases in drop-out rates
• decreases in child abuse reports
• decreases in unplanned pregnancies
• increases in wage earnings
• decreases in crime
• (From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000 Karoly et
  al., 1998, 2005
• Lynch, 2005 Olds, 2002)

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What Can We Do?Adopt Helpful Public Policies

• Adopt policies that address the educational and
  health disparities of minority children and their
  families, regardless of immigration status
• Fund to scale agencies and programs that address
  health, mental health childcare, education,
  family support, and child welfare regardless of
  immigration status

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What Can We Do? Pursue Cultural Competence

• Community buy-in is crucial for success
• Incorporate linguistic continuity
• Understand the meaning of culturally different
  childrearing practices
• Hire staff that reflect the population served
• Fund training and leadership development
• Include families/consumers from all cultures in
  planning and implementation

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What Can We Do?Begin at the Beginning

• Babies cant wait, regardless of immigration
  status!
• Children aged birth-five are particularly
  vulnerable
• 85 of child abuse victims
• Majority of child abuse fatalities
• Most frequent witnesses of domestic violence
• What babies learn now can last a lifetime
  Respect their culture to nourish their emotional
  health!

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