California Report Card 2004. Focus on Children in Immigrant Families

This document focuses on children in immigrant families to help Californians better understand the lives of almost half of California's children and families, about whom stereotypes often prevail. The report's data--obtained from sources such as the 2000 Census, the 2001 California Health Interview Survey and the 1999 and 2002 National Survey of America's Families--show that: (1) Most immigrant families in California have full-time workers: 84 percent of all children in immigrant families have at least one parent who works full-time; (2) Among California children in low-income families, those in immigrant families are much more likely to have a parent working full-time (74 percent) than those in native families (44 percent); (3) Children in immigrant families are more likely to be poor and live in crowded housing; (4) Poor children in immigrant families are less likely to receive food stamps than poor children in native families; (5) Children in immigrant families are less likely to have health insurance coverage from their parents' employers and, though public programs help, they are more likely to be uninsured than children of nonimmigrants; and (6)Children in immigrant families are less likely than children in native families to attend preschool and less likely to participate in after school enrichment activities once in school. (Contains 13 figures.)