The rights that the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) enumerates include the rights to (1) an adequate standard of living, (2) an education directed toward the development of the child’s fullest potential, (3) the highest attainable standard of health, and (4) the child’s own cultural identity and use of his or her own language. The CRC states that these rights shall be ensured regardless of various statuses of children, including race, ethnic origin, national origin, and language. This article presents a statistical baseline for assessing the diversity of children in the United States with regard to these statuses, presents results for statistical indicators of well-being for children distinguished by these statuses, and discusses public policies to reduce inequalities relevant to these rights.
Alba, Richard, and Victor Nee.2003. Remaking the American mainstream: Assimilation and contemporary immigration. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press.
2.
Annie E. Casey Foundation.2006. 2006 Kids Count data book. Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
3.
Bernstein, Jared, Chauna Brocht, and Maggie Spade-Aguilar.2000. How much is enough? Basic family budgets for working families. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.
4.
Boushey, Heather, Chauna Brocht, Bethney Gundersen , and Jared Bernstein.2001. Hardships in America: The real story of working families. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.
5.
Capps, Randy, Rosa Maria Castañeda, Ajay Chaudry, and Robert Santos.2007. Paying the price: The impact of immigration raids on America’s children. Washington, DC: National Council of La Raza.
6.
Capps, Randy, Genevieve Kenney, and Michael Fix .2003. Health insurance coverage of children in mixed-status immigrant families. Snapshots of America’s Children no. 12. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
7.
Chaudry, Ajay, Randy Capps, Juan Manuel Pedroza, Rosa Maria Castañeda, Robert Santos, and Molly M. Scott .2010. Facing our future: Children in the aftermath of immigration enforcement. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
8.
Citro, Constance F., and Robert T. Michael, eds. 1995. Measuring poverty: A new approach. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
9.
Denton, Nancy A.2001. Housing as a means of asset accumulation: A good strategy for the poor? In Assets for the poor, eds. Thomas M. Shapiro and Edward M. Wolff, 232-66. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
10.
Duncan, Greg J., and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, eds. 1997. Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
11.
Engel, Kathleen C., and Patricia A. McCoy .2008. From credit denial to predatory lending: The challenge of sustaining minority homeownership. In Segregation: The rising costs for America, eds. James H. Carr and Nandinee K. Kutty, 81-123. New York, NY: Routledge.
12.
Evans, Gary W., Susan Saegert, and Rebecca Harris.2001. Residential density and psychological health among children in low-income families. Environment and Behavior33 (2): 165-80.
13.
Fix, Michael, and Jeffrey Passel.1999. Trends in noncitizens’ and citizens’ use of public benefits following welfare reform: 1994-97. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
14.
Fix, Michael, and Wendy Zimmerman .1995. When should immigrants receive public benefits? In Welfare reform: An analysis of the issues , ed. Isabel V. Sawhill, 69-72. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
15.
Gormley, William T.2007. Early childhood care and education: Lessons and puzzles . Journal of Policy Analysis and Management26 (3): 633-71.
16.
Gormley, William T., Ted Gayer, DeborahA. Phillips, and Brittan Dawson.2005. The effects of universal pre-K on cognitive development. Developmental Psychology41 (6): 872-84.
17.
Haskins, Ron, and Cecilia Rouse.2005. Closing achievement gaps. The Future of Children, Policy Brief. Princeton, NJ: Princeton-Brookings.
18.
Haurin, Donald R., Toby L. Parcel, and R. Jean Haurin.2002. Impact of homeownership on child outcomes . In Low-income homeownership: Examining the unexamined goal , eds. Nicolas P. Retsinas and Eric S. Belsky, 427-46. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
19.
Heckman, James J., and Dimitriy V. Masterov .2007. The productivity argument for investing in young children. T.W. Schultz Award Lecture given at the Allied Social Sciences Association annual meeting, 5-7 January. Chicago, IL. Available from http://jenni.uchicago.edu/human-inequality/papers/Heckman_final_all_wp_2007-03-22c_jsb.pdf (accessed 23 January 2009).
20.
Hernandez, Donald J., and Evan Charney, eds. 1998. From generation to generation: The health and wellbeing of children in immigrant families. Washington, DC: National Academy Press .
21.
Hernandez, Donald J., Nancy A. Denton, and Suzanne E. Macartney .2007. Child poverty in the U.S.: A new family budget approach with comparison to European countries. In Childhood, generational order and the welfare state: Exploring children’s social and economic welfare. Vol. 1 of COST A19: Children’s welfare , eds. Helmut Wintersberger, Leena Alanen, Thomas Olk , and Jens Qvortrup, 109- 40. Odense : University Press of Southern Denmark.
22.
Hernandez, Donald J., Nancy A. Denton, and Suzanne Macartney . Forthcoming. Early childhood education programs: Accounting for low enrollment in newcomer and native families. In The new dimensions of diversity: The children of immigrants in North America and Western Europe, eds. Richard Alba and Mary A. Waters.New York, NY: New York University Press.
23.
Hernandez, Donald J., and Suzanne E. Macartney.2008. Racial-ethnic inequality in child well-being from 1985-2004: Gaps narrowing, but persist. New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development . Available from www.fcd-us.org/resources/recources_show.htm?doc_id=648676 (accessed 7 July 2010).
24.
Hernandez, Donald J., Suzanne Macartney, and Victoria L. Blanchard .2009. Children in immigrant families in eight affluent countries: Their family, national, and international context . Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
25.
Herz, Elicia J., Chris L. Peterson, and Evelyne P. Baumrucker .2007. State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP): A brief overview. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.
26.
Hill-Scott, Karen.2005. Facilities technical report. Los Angeles, CA: First 5 LA.
27.
Holloway, Susan, and Bruce Fuller.1999. Through my own eyes: Single mothers and the cultures of poverty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
28.
International Human Rights Law Clinic, Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity, and Immigration Law Clinic.2010. In the child’s best interest? The consequences of losing a lawful immigrant parent to deportation. Berkeley, CA: University of California School of Law and University of California Davis School of Law. Available from www.law.berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/In_the_Childs_Best_Interest.pdf (accessed 5 April 2010).
29.
Kamerman, Sheila B., and Alfred J. Kahn.1995. Starting right: How America neglects its youngest children and what we can do about it. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
30.
Liang, Xiaoyan, Bruce Fuller, and Judith D. Singer.2000. Ethnic differences in child care selection: The influence of family structure, parental practices, and home language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly15 (3): 357-84.
31.
Lynch, Robert G.2004. Exceptional returns: Economic, fiscal and social benefits of investment in early childhood development. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.
32.
Massey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton .1993. American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
33.
Matthews, Hannah, and Danielle Ewen.2006. Reaching all children? Understanding early care and education participation among immigrant families. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy.
34.
McLoyd, Vonnie.1998. Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development . American Psychologist53 (2): 185-204.
35.
Mezey, Jennifer, Mark Greenberg, and Rachel Schumacher .2002. The vast majority of federally eligible children did not receive child care assistance in FY2000. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy. Available from www.clasp.org/publications/1in7full.pdf (accessed 16 March 2005).
36.
OECD Directorate of Education.2006. Early childhood education and care policy: Country note for Mexico . Paris: OECD Directorate of Education . Available from www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/39/34429196.pdf (accessed 4 March 2006).
37.
Passel, Jeffery S.2006. The size and characteristics of the unauthorized migrant population in the U.SWashington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center. Available from http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/61.pdf (accessed 4 August 2010).
38.
Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben Rumbaut.2001. Legacies: The story of the immigrant generation. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
39.
Pre-K Now.2007. Votes count: Legislative action on pre-K fiscal year 2008. Washington, DC: Pre-K Now. Available from www.preknow.com//documents/LegislativeReport_Sept2007.pdf (accessed 19 May 2008).
40.
Ruggles, Steven J., Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek.2010. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota.
41.
Saegert, Susan.1982. Environment and children’s mental health: Residential density and low income children. In Handbook of psychology and health, vol. II, Issues in child health and adolescent health , eds. Andrew f. Baum and Jerome E. Singer, 247-71. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
42.
Sam, David L., Paul Vedder, Coleen Ward, and Gabriel Horenczyk .2006. Psychological and sociocultural adaptation of immigrant youth. In Immigrant youth in cultural transition: Acculturation, identify, and adaptation across national contexts , eds. John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney, David L. Sam, Paul Vedder, 117-42. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
Sewell, William H., and Robert M. Hauser .1975. Education, occupation and earnings. New York, NY: Academic Press.
44.
Shonkoff, Jack P., and Deborah A. Phillips .2000. From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early child development. Washington, DC : National Academy Press.
45.
Smeeding, Timothy, Coady Wing, and Karen Robson.2010. Differences in social transfer support and poverty for immigrant families with children: Lessons from the LIS. In Immigration, diversity, and education, eds. Elena L. Grigorenko and Ruby Takanishi , 26-47. London: Routledge /Taylor and Francis Group.
46.
Squires, Gregory D., and Charis E. Kubrin .2006. Privileged places: Race, residence and the structure of opportunity. Boulder, CO : Lynne Rienner.
47.
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay, and Robert Pear. 23 March 2010. Obama signs health care overhaul bill, with a flourish. New York Times. Available from www.nytimes.com.
48.
St. Pierre, Robert, Anne Ricciuti, Fumiyo Tao, Cindy Creps, Janet Swartz, Wang Lee, and Amanda Parsad.2003. Third national Even Start evaluation: Program impacts and implications for improvement. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Planning and Evaluation Service, Elementary and Secondary Education Division.
49.
Takanishi, Ruby.2004. Leveling the playing field: Supporting immigrant children from birth to eight. The Future of Children14 (2): 61-79.
50.
Turner, Margery Austin, Beata A.Bednarz, Carla Herbig, and Seon Joo Lee .2003. Discrimination in metropolitan housing markets phase II: Asian and Pacific Islanders. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Available from www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=1000502 (accessed 7 July 2010).
51.
Turner, MargeryAustin, StephenL. Ross, George Galster, and John Yinger.2002. Discrimination in metropolitan housing markets. Washington, DCUrban Institute. Available from www.urban.org/url .cfm?ID=410821 (accessed 7 July 2010).
52.
Unicef.2008. The childcare transition . Report no. 8. Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.
53.
United Nations General Assembly.1989. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Res. 44/25. New York: NY: United Nations. Available from www.un.org/documents/instruments/docs_en.asp.
54.
U.S. Census Bureau.1994. Housing of lower-income households. Statistical BriefSB/94/18. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Available from www.census.gov/aspd/www./statbrief/sb94_18.pdf (accessed 9 January 2006).
55.
U.S. Congress. Senate.2010. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. HR 3590. 111th Cong., 1st sess. Available from http://democrats.senate.gov/reform/patient-protection-affordable-care-act.pdf .
56.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).2007 . USDA food stamp program: Food stamps make America stronger . Washington, DC: USDA. Available from www.fns.usda.gov/cga/FactSheets/food_stamps.htm (accessed 13 July 2007).
57.
U.S. Department of Commerce. 2 March 2010. Press release: Census Bureau to develop supplemental poverty measure . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. Available from www.commerce.gov/news/ (accessed 4 August 2010).
58.
Uttal, Lynet.1999. Using kin for child care: Embedment in the socioeconomic networks of extended families. Journal of Marriage and the Family61 (4): 845-57.
59.
Yoshikawa, Hirokazu, Kathleen McCartney, Robert G. Myers, Kristen L. Bub, Julieta Lugo-Gil, Maria A. Ramos, and Felicia Knau.2006. Educacion preescolar en Mexico. In Aprender más y mejor: Politicas, programas y oportunidades de aprendizaje en educacion basica en Mexico, ed. Fernando Reimers.Mexico City: Fonda Cultura y Economica.
60.
Zimmermann, Wendy, and Karen C. Tumlin.1999. Patchwork policies: State assistance for immigrants under welfare reform. Occasional Paper no. 24. Washington, DC : Urban Institute.
