A Kids Count report was just released for the state of Nebraska, and this year it focuses on immi­grant chil­dren. The report issued from Voices for Chil­dren says that there are many bar­ri­ers that pre­vent immi­grant chil­dren from becom­ing pro­duc­tive adults.

The Kids Count report blames the bar­ri­ers for immi­grant chil­dren on restric­tive laws and poli­cies. Many of the chil­dren are US cit­i­zens because they were born in the states, how­ever their par­ents might not be US cit­i­zens. The par­ents of these chil­dren avoid seek­ing ser­vices for their kids out of fear of being deported away.

From the CT Post, Jean Ortiz of the Asso­ci­ated Press unpacks the report for us.

In 2007, some 52,000 chil­dren — nearly 12 per­cent of all Nebraska’s kids — were born in another coun­try or had at least one foreign-born par­ent. Some 85 per­cent of those chil­dren are U.S. cit­i­zens, the non­profit group said in its report.

A year ear­lier, 61 per­cent belonged to low-income fam­i­lies. Advo­cates say chil­dren in low-income house­holds face the great­est risk of receiv­ing low-quality child care, hav­ing inad­e­quate nutri­tion, being unin­sured and grow­ing up in an unsafe neigh­bor­hood. They are also the kids most likely to end up in the juve­nile jus­tice system.

Some 64 per­cent of immi­grant chil­dren lived with par­ents who had dif­fi­culty speak­ing Eng­lish in 2007, accord­ing to the report. Those par­ents often strug­gle to nav­i­gate the school sys­tem or access health care and other ser­vices for their chil­dren, mean­ing that their off­spring could miss oppor­tu­ni­ties for improve­ment and bet­ter health.

It also means those chil­dren have to shoul­der more respon­si­bil­ity, said Mark Mather with the Pop­u­la­tion Ref­er­ence Bureau, who has stud­ied the issue on a national scope.

“What we have here is a gen­er­a­tion of trans­la­tors,” he said. “These kids are kind of between two worlds.”

Chil­dren of ille­gal immi­grants are even more vul­ner­a­ble because their par­ents are too scared to access pub­lic ser­vices for their chil­dren for fear of being dis­cov­ered and deported, the report found.

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