SAF is partnering with the Wake Forest School of Medicine's Center for Worker Health on a study researching child farmworkers in North Carolina. They recently wrote a policy brief summarizing their findings on the educational experiences of NC child farmworkers.
Brief Summary:
"In this study, Latinx child farmworkers had elevated rates of repeating a grade and dropout status. Some reported disruption to their schooling caused by international, interstate, and intrastate movement. These movements were often related to their status as farmworkers. Students faced barriers to engagement with educational enrichment opportunities and integration into school life. Many schools were ill-prepared to accommodate the language needs and migration experience of Latinx farmworker students. Several students reported experiencing racism in school.
Latinx child farmworkers are vulnerable due to structural factors, such as immigration policy and anti-immigrant rhetoric, lax child labor laws, poverty, dangerous work conditions, educational inequities, and the organization of work in the US agricultural system. Additional supportive educational policies are needed. Policies to reduce child employment in agriculture while supporting adult agricultural workers are needed to ensure educational opportunities that promote future health and well-being."