Invisible Families: Supporting Undocumented Families of Children with Special Needs

INFORMING, EDUCATING, EMPOWERING FAMILIES
617-236-7210 | www.fcsn.org | fcsninfo@fcsn.org
Invisible Population
Parent Training and Information Center

Invisible Population
Presented by: Olga M. Lopez
Mariela Pijen
Parent Training Information Center
The Schrafft Center ● 529 Main Street, Suite 1M3 ● Boston, MA 02129
Federation for Children with Special Needs
617-236-7210 ● Toll Free 1-800-33-0688 ● Fax 617-241-0330
www.fcsn.org
Parent Reaching Out
www.parentreachingout.org

© 2017 Federation for Children with Special Needs
We are One Community

Our Mission
The Federation for Children with Special Needs provides
information, support, and assistance to parents of
children with disabilities, their professional partners, and
their communities. We are committed to listening to and
learning from families, and encouraging full participation
in community life by all people, especially those with
disabilities.
Last year we touched more than 45,000 Lives!!!!!!!!

Our Families

Our Mission
The mission of Parents Reaching Out (PRO) is to enhance
positive outcomes for families and children in New Mexico
through informed decision making, advocacy, education,
and resources.
This mission supports ALL families including those who have
children with disabilities, and others who are
disenfranchised.
Parents Reaching Out achieves this by:
• Developing family leadership
• Connecting families to each other
• Building collaborative partnerships
• Providing families knowledge and tools to enhance
their power

Who We Are
The Federation for
Children with Special
Needs promotes quality
education, parent
participation and access
to quality health care
services for all children,
especially those with
disabilities
The contents of this workshop were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, #H328M140014. However, the
contents do not necessarily represent the policy of US Department of Education; you should not assume endorsement by the federal
government.
The Parent Training and
Information Center is a project of
the Federation. It provides free
information, support, technical
assistance and affordable
workshops to families who have
children with disabilities and the
professionals who work with
them.

Outreach Team Member
• who adopt children with known or
unknown disabilities
• Varied family structures
• Non English Speakers
• Who have experiences with
different disabilities .
• Who seek a wide array of
services and supports
• Undocumented families with
children with or without disability
Represent a wide number of Federation projects
Have an appreciation of the varied diversity of our
callers
 Experience Working with
Families

Programs & Services
Special
Education
Center
Health
Advocacy
Center
Family
Support
Center
Parent-
Professional
Leadership Center
Family &
Community
Engagement
Center
The Federation manages over 15 projects related to
supporting families whose children have special educational
needs and special healthcare needs, including families of
culturally and economically underserved populations by
promoting family engagement within general education. The
projects are organized into five centers:

Programs at PRO
Health
Care
Special
Education
Family
Leadership
and
Advocacy
Early
Childhood
 Parent Training and Information Center
 FV F 2 F Healthcare Information Center
 Parent To Parent
 Families as Faculty
 SpEd Clinics
 Forward @ 14
 Resource Center
 Annual Family Leadership Conference
 Family Support Groups
 Sibshops
 Volunteering

“All” Means All”
Learning To Work
With Undocumented Families

We are Cultural Brokers
Culture Brokering is…
Bridging the gap between
your organization and the
diverse groups you
communicate with. It’s also
sometimes called
“partnership brokering,”
because it’s all about
building stronger
partnerships with people
from diverse backgrounds
(Jezewski & Sotnik, 2001)
defined culture broking
as “the act of bridging,
linking or mediating
between groups or
persons of differing
cultural backgrounds for
the purpose of reducing
conflict or producing
change” Usually the
culture broker is from
one or other of the
cultures but could be
from a third group

Hispanic Or Latino Cultures
Family is
the Center
Cultural
Differences
Personal
Communication
Family
Rights
Trust

Undocumented Latino Population in
Massachusetts
5%

New Mexico
More than 50,000 U.S. citizens in New Mexico live
with at least one family member who is
undocumented.
• 85,000 undocumented immigrants comprised 37
percent of the immigrant population and 4 percent of
the total state population in 2014.
• 115,331 people in New Mexico, including 54,068 born
in the United States, lived with at least one
undocumented family member between 2010 and
2014.10

New Mexico
 Nearly 1 in 10 New Mexico residents is an immigrant,
while one in nine residents is a native-born U.S. citizen
with at least one immigrant parent
 In 2015, 196,955 immigrants (foreign-born individuals)
comprised 9.4 percent of the state’s population
 The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico
(70 percent of immigrants), Germany (2 percent), China
(2 percent), Vietnam (1.9 percent), and Canada (1.7
percent)
 71,581 immigrants (36.3 percent) had naturalized as of
2015,naturalized U.S. citizens in 2015.5 and 47,620
immigrants were eligible to become 6

New Mexico
 During the same period, 1 in 11 children in the state
was a U.S. citizen living with at least one
undocumented family member (44,653 children in
total).
 Approximately 6,000 Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) recipients live in New Mexico.12
 As of 2016, 73 percent of DACA-eligible
immigrants in New Mexico, or 7,410 people, had
applied for DACA.

We Collaborate with Different
Organizations
Been part of GRULA
Collaborating Governmental
Mayor’s Office for Immigrants Advancement
Collaborating with Community Leaders

We Collaborate with
Different Organizations
Collaborating with Civic Organizations
Representing Families at the State
House
Participating Community Engagement
Meetings

Challenges of Undocumented
Families
Cultural
Barriers
Language
Barriers
Access to
Medical Care
Services
Housing
Communication
with School

Challenges for immigrants in NM
Immigration polices and enforcement and
deportation
Limited access to health and
mental health services
Lack of equity in education
Living alienated and in fear
of be deported

Strategies
Finding Our Families
Outreach through community partners
• Soft calls to agencies that work with families
with children with disabilities
• Face to face meetings- with providers and
families
• Schedule and over view of your organization
with staff
• Email – follow up emails with invitation to
activities
• Booths and events
• Word of Mouth –families will share information-

Tell me Your Story
All Our Families Matter
1. Kevin Colombian Family
2. Boston Public School parent
Engagement
3. Honduras Family
4. Susan Chinese Family
5. Camilo Mexican Family
6. Jared Honduras Family

Cultural Competency Check List
Make the setting and environment more welcoming
and attractive based on families’ cultural norms.
Avoid stereotyping and misapplication of scientific
knowledge.
Include community input at the planning and
development stage of projects.
Use educational approaches and materials that will
capture the attention of your intended audience.

Cultural Competency Check List
Find ways to partner with the community.
 Understand there is no recipe.
 Hire staff that reflect the client population.
 Understand cultural competency is continually
evolving.
 Be creative in finding ways to communicate with
population groups that have limited English-
speaking proficiency.

The Bottom Line

Contact Information
If you have any question please call the Helping Line :
1800-331-0688
Spanish Line : 617- 399-8330
Email: olopez@fcsn.org
https://www.facebook.com/fcsnfb
https://fcsn.org/

INFORMING, EDUCATING, EMPOWERING FAMILIES
617-236-7210 | www.fcsn.org | fcsninfo@fcsn.org

Invisible Families: Supporting Undocumented Families of Children with Special Needs

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Invisible Families: Supporting Undocumented Families of Children with Special Needs