Findings from a Community Based Participatory Action Research with Latino Migrant Families: About Access and Multilingualism

Background and Purpose: This presentation reports findings from a larger participatory action research (PAR) process carried out by Boston College Center of Human Rights and International Justice and two community organizations. It explores how Latin@ migrants with limited English proficiency (LEP) access community services, and the challenges encountered when parents and children in migrant families speak different levels of English and Spanish.

LEP is related to poorer access to higher paying jobs, education and healthcare for migrant families. In 2013, approximately 8 million children lived with at least one LEP parent (Migration Policy Institute). Studies report that these children speak better English than their parents because they learn faster and are exposed to English through schools. Thus, in the absence of professional interpreters migrant parents rely on their children for translation when accessing services. Few studies have explored the implications of these roles for both children and parents.

Methods: Forty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted independently with dyads of migrant parents (n=21) and their children (n=20) in East Boston and Revere. The adult sample was predominantly women (n=19), with a median age of 45 years. The majority were migrants from El Salvador (n=10) and Colombia (n=7). The youth sample included nine girls and eleven boys, ages ranging from 11 to 17. The majority was born in the US (n=13).

Study participants were recruited through posters, flyers and personal interactions. Interviews were transcribed by co-researchers who also coded them thematically using Nvivo qualitative software. Community co-researchers worked together with university based co-researchers throughout the research process, nourishing the analysis with their own experiences as members of migrant families.

Findings: Seventy percent of participants (n=31) reported problems accessing services related to language barriers, 77% of these were in schools and healthcare. All children (n=20) helped their parents with English in these settings and others. Fifteen children expressed negative feelings related to this role, but twelve reported positive ones. Most parents expressed frustration for depending on their children and recognized that interpreting was difficult for children.

Ten families reported communication problems between parents and children related to their differential language abilities. Children regretted not knowing enough Spanish while parents lamented not knowing enough English. Both parents and children placed value on bilingualism to facilitate family communication and as a doorway to better future opportunities.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings highlight the importance of conducting social work research on the particular needs of this population, with the vision of improving LEP adult’s acquisition of English skills. Better parental English skills could improve family well-being while reducing reliance on youth to meet family needs. Social workers interacting with migrants should be aware of the possibility of children acting as interpreters and seek alternatives, especially when topics are not appropriate for children. They could advocate for hiring multilingual staff and for providing multilingual informational materials that could facilitate migrants' access to services. Finally, social work practitioners are challenged to understand the value of bilingualism for these families and support initiatives that teach Spanish to children of Latin@ migrants.