The Bordering of Care: Examining the Impacts of Exclusions from Social Programs for Undocumented Parents Caring for Young Children in Canada

Background and Purpose: In Canada, parents with young children often experience increased dependence on publicly funded social programs - including healthcare, childcare subsidies and the Canada Child Benefit, a monthly income-adjusted cash transfer available to most low and middle-income parents. Undocumented parents, however, have limited access to most social programs. Policy makers estimate between 200 000 to 500 000 undocumented people live in Canada, with close to half residing in Toronto. Yet despite emerging research about barriers undocumented pregnant women face in meeting their health needs, there is little scholarship about the experiences of undocumented parents after their children have been born. This paper helps to fill this gap by examining the impacts of structural barriers that impede access to social programs for undocumented mothers with young children, between infancy and age 6, living in the Greater Toronto Area.

Methods: Using narrative methods, the study combined a policy review and 23 interviews with 11 undocumented mothers and 12 service providers and advocates, including social workers, family support workers, lawyers and healthcare providers. Participants were recruited through partnering community agencies, social media groups and snowball sampling. Mothers identified as Latin American and Black Caribbean. Relevant federal, provincial, and municipal policies regulating eligibility and access to healthcare and family support programs were reviewed. Narrative interviews focused on understanding the experiences of undocumented parents in caring for their young children and the barriers they face to accessing needed resources and services. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic narrative approach, through the creation of narrative summaries, and theoretical and inductive coding using NVivo software.

Findings: Barriers to accessing social programs include: 1) state policies that explicitly exclude parents from income support program based on immigration status; 2) administrative requirements for programs that are difficult for undocumented parents to meet; 3) racism and discrimination by individual public service providers; and 4) parental fear of being reported to immigration. Exclusion from subsidized childcare and the Canada Child Benefit are especially harmful, often creating economic precarity for parents during their children’s early years, particularly for single mothers. Participant stories highlight the many harms resulting from these exclusions, including food and housing insecurity, dependence on abusive partners, reliance on precarious informal childcare arrangements, mental health challenges including postpartum depression, and difficulties accessing early intervention support for children with disabilities. Participants also shared positive experiences with some community-based services including early childhood drop-in centres and community health centres, and described helpful organizational practices that reduce barriers to service access.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings highlight the harms created by the current exclusions of undocumented parents from state funded family support programs, and the need for policy changes to enable access to subsidized childcare and the Canada Child Benefit regardless of parental immigration status. The study also identifies promising organizational practices that facilitate access which can be implemented by service providers to improve support for undocumented parents and their young children.