Undocumented Child Essay

A parent’s legal status is a strong predictor of the multiple adverse outcomes for children including health status. Brabeck et al. (2015) attributed parent’s undocumented status with the likelihood of children receiving services to maintain and/or improve their health such as public health and medical care. It was discovered that children whose parents were undocumented were less likely to use these services because parents feared the risk of being deported if they disclosed their legal status. Public programs that citizen children are eligible to receive were also less likely to be used because of the scare-tactics of being deported. It was also noted that once parent and child were separated due to deportation, health services were less

If both parents have been deported, the child is often left with a family friend, relative, and neighbor that will look after them. Often times the person who is now watching over the child is also undocumented and the fear of possibly them getting deported keeps them from leaving their house if they do not have to (Allen et al., 2015;Brabeck& Xu, 2010). The fear of authority personnel such as police officers but also physicians, were a reason for caregiver to avoid asking the child to receive medical care. If one parent was left behind with the child, the circumstances were no different; the likelihood of them receiving appropriate and consistent health care was small. As a fear of being deported and the lack of access to health insurance, parents choose to pay in cash for medical care, adding to their already tight financial situation (Gulbas et al., 2015; Zayas et al., 2015). Not receiving appropriate medical care can lead to developmental problems. As Brabeck et al. (2014) mentioned, younger children who have experienced separation of a parent due to deportation showed a delay in their speech. Along with speech development, younger children who had been separated by their parent showed lower levels of cognitive ability in standardized assessments (Brabeck