Chapter 22 Promoting the Educational Success of Latin American Immigrant Children Separated from Parents during Migration

For many immigrants, especially those from Central America and Mexico, it is common for a mother or father (or both) to migrate to the United States and leave their children behind. Then, after the parent(s) have achieved some degree of stability in the United States, the children follow. In our previous research, we found that children separated from parents during migration are more likely to be behind others their age in school, are more likely to repeat a grade, and are more likely to drop out of high school. The negative impact of separation during migration on educational success is largest for children separated from their mothers (in contrast to fathers), for those whose parents have lived in the United States illegally, and for those who reunited with parents as teenagers (rather than at younger ages). In this chapter, we suggest public policies to help immigrant children separated from parents during migration to succeed in U.S. schools. The policies that we discuss are based on focus group discussions with parents separated from their children during migration, interviews with psychologists and school administrators, and an online survey of elementary and high school teachers.