How Latina/o Children Fared in North Carolina in 2000-2010

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Issues and Possibilities in New Immigrant Gateway States: The Case of North Carolina

Abstract

In light of the dearth of research focusing on the protective factors for Latino children in new gateway states, this study investigates how North Carolina Latino children have fared by analyzing information related to these protective factors for Latino/a children 5-18 years of age, compared to other children in North Carolina, to Latino/a children in other new gateway states as well as Latino/a children in traditional gateway states. 2011 data will be compared to 2000 Census data to reveal trends.

This paper uses the child welfare protective factors framework (e.g., McLoyd, 1998; Resnick, 2000) , focusing on the multiple conditions of children, their families, communities, and larger society. These conditions reportedly affect the well-being of children and their capacity to function effectively in education and everyday life. Protectors for Latino children may include parental education and family economic security, characteristics of the neighbor and communities, health and health care, and immigration related factors (linguistic, nativity, family legal status, etc.).

This is a demographic study providing descriptive statistic data. The baseline data are derived from the U.S. Census 2000 PUMS 5% dataset, which includes 14.5 million people in the United States and the American Community Survey 2007-2011 data, which contains 6,524,219 housing unit records and 14,816,986 persons. The U.S. Census Bureau did not offer a Long Form in its 2010 Census Survey. The project includes all children between 5-18 years of age living in households with parents or guardians. This represents more than 2 million school-age children drawn from each of the two datasets and approximately 20,000 Latino/a children in North Carolina.

Initial data analyses indicate schools in new gateway states are likely to work with vulnerable immigrant populations: recent arrivals (more likely to be undocumented than their counterparts in the traditional receiving areas), poorer with lower occupational status, lack of high school diploma, low English fluency. Therefore, they are more likely to need benefits and services, including health insurance, food stamps, interpretation, and English language courses. Moreover, new gateway states lack an established multi-generation ethnic community to support new immigrants, bridge language and cultural barriers, or intervene effectively on behalf of children. However, the data (compared to data in other new gateway states) also indicate a clustered residential pattern in many North Carolina small towns with a massive increase in the school enrollment of Latino students. This can be viewed as a major stimulus for school restructuring and curricular reform, as the Latino community can effectively advocate on behalf of their children’s educational needs.
By offering empirical evidence with the child welfare protective factors framework, this study helps educators and policy makers identify and allocate resources to strengthen families, support community, and find ways to enhance the multiple collaborations among stakeholders. This evidence-based demographic study may also aid researchers across programs and disciplines to convert the results to a discussion on critical advocacy for supporting disenfranchised and marginalized groups.

Author

• Xue Lan Rong, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill