Challenges in Accessing Early Childhood Education and Care for Children in Refugee Families in Massachusetts

Refugee parents often have greater difficulty accessing high-quality childcare than their native-born counterparts. However, Massachusetts has made significant inroads in addressing this gap as the first state to create an agency with the sole focus of managing and improving early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The Migration Policy Institute report Challenges in Addressing Early Childhood Education Care in Children in Refugee Families in Massachusetts uses data and interviews with refugee organizations, state agencies and ECEC service providers to discuss the state’s track record in providing high quality childcare for refugee families. Some of the institutional barriers include limited resource-sharing and cooperation among social service providers and the dearth of training available to resettlement staff. Cultural barriers include refugees’ lack of English skills or knowledge of how to access subsidized childcare. Refugee parents also face time constraints that prevent them from fully researching adequate childcare providers as they are usually required to obtain employment shortly after arriving in the U.S. The report notes the serious shortage of data on refugee children in the child welfare system. For this reason, the report calls for better data tracking to ensure that policy initiatives are adequately addressing the needs of refugee families. The report concludes with policy recommendations such as improving interagency cooperation, strengthening cultural training for childcare providers and focusing resettlement efforts on areas with large concentrations of ECEC providers. (The Immigrant Learning Center Public Education Institute)

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