Future Child. 1995 Summer-Fall;5(2):72-89.
Discussions about immigration, focused on such policy issues as labor force participation and use of welfare programs, frequently fail to include considerations of children's well-being. Even those debates which center on programs that benefit children--such as schools, public assistance, and social welfare programs--are often based on issues related to short-term costs and societal impacts, neglecting considerations of the well-being and future contributions of immigrant children. Hence, immigrant children have been rendered largely invisible in policy spheres. Yet first- and second-generation immigrant children are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population under age 15. In this context, the Board on Children and Families of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop on immigrant children and families to review what is known about this population and to identify issues that warrant further examination. This article is based on the discussions at the workshop. Several themes emerged from the workshop, including the value of looking at immigrant children in the context of their families; the importance of understanding public concerns over the costs of immigrants, coupled with the difficulty of pinpointing just what those costs are; and the need for policymakers to address such policy issues as education and health care. The article concludes by identifying a number of areas in which research is warranted as immigrant children and families grow to become a core part of American communities, schools, and society.
关于移民的讨论，主要聚焦于劳动力参与和福利项目使用等政策问题，却常常未将儿童福祉纳入考量。即便那些围绕惠及儿童的项目展开的辩论——比如学校、公共援助和社会福利项目——往往也基于与短期成本及社会影响相关的问题，而忽视了对移民儿童福祉及未来贡献的考量。因此，移民儿童在政策领域基本上处于被忽视的状态。然而，第一代和第二代移民儿童却是美国15岁以下人口中增长最快的群体。在此背景下，美国国家研究理事会儿童与家庭委员会及美国医学研究所举办了一场关于移民儿童与家庭的研讨会，以审视关于这一群体的已知情况，并确定值得进一步研究的问题。本文基于研讨会上的讨论内容撰写而成。研讨会上浮现出几个主题，包括在家庭背景下看待移民儿童的价值；理解公众对移民成本的担忧的重要性，以及明确这些成本究竟是什么的困难；还有政策制定者应对教育和医疗等政策问题的必要性。文章最后指出，随着移民儿童和家庭逐渐成为美国社区、学校和社会的核心组成部分，在若干领域开展研究很有必要。
