Identifying Immigrant Families Involved with Child Welfare Systems

Briefs no. 1, 2, and 3 of the Child Welfare Research Program: Identifying Immigrant Families Involved with Child Welfare Systems

The population of children of immigrants is growing rapidly, as over one fifth of all U.S. children have at least one immigrant parent. Social service systems such as child welfare are encountering large and increasing numbers of these children, but few hard data on the system involvement of children of immigrants exist. The first three briefs in the Identifying Immigrant Families with Child Welfare Systems series provide some of the first data on first-and second- generation Latin American immigrant children in out-of-home care in Texas. Overall, Latin American immigrant children and Latin American children of immigrants are underrepresented, while Hispanic children of U.S.-born parents are over-represented in the Texas child welfare system. Key child welfare system experience findings include:

• Placement type: only 8 percent of Latin American immigrant children in out-of-home care are living with relatives compared with 20-28 percent of U.S.-born children (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic).
• Removal reason: Latin American immigrants are three times more likely to be removed because of sexual abuse than children of U.S.-born parents.
• Title IV-E eligibility: Only 5 percent of Latin American immigrants in out-of-home care are eligible for Title IV-E reimbursement compared with over half of U.S.-born children.

Read the briefs in this series:

No. 1: Foster Care Placement Settings and Permanency Planning: Patterns by Child Generation

No. 2: Child Sexual Abuse: Removals by Child Generation and Ethnicity

No. 3: Title IV-E Funding: Funded Foster Care Placements by Child Generation and Ethnicity