Why Child Development Matters When Considering Immigration Policies
Children First: Understanding How Immigration Policy
Affects Child Well-Being
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Immigration policy is often discussed in terms of laws, border security, or legal processes. Yet for millions of children living in immigrant families, immigration policy influences daily experiences that are essential for healthy growth and development.
Approximately one in four children in the United States lives in an immigrant family, and most of these children are U.S. citizens.
Policies related to immigration enforcement, detention, a family’s legal status, and access to services can shape whether children experience stability and security—or ongoing uncertainty and stress.
Understanding how these experiences affect children can help policymakers, child welfare professionals, healthcare providers, educators, and community organizations better recognize children's developmental needs and support their well-being.
Child Development Depends on Stable Relationships
Decades of research in developmental science consistently show that children thrive when they experience:
stable, nurturing relationships with caregivers;
predictable daily routines;
safe and supportive environments; and
reliable access to healthcare, education, nutrition, and other essential services.
These conditions allow children to develop healthy emotional regulation, cognitive skills, and resilience throughout childhood.
Conversely, prolonged exposure to instability, uncertainty, or repeated disruptions in caregiving relationships can interfere with healthy development. While children can adapt to many life challenges, ongoing adversity without adequate adult support can overwhelm them physically and emotionally and undermine their ability to cope.
For this reason, developmental experts increasingly recognize that public policies—not only family circumstances—can influence children's developmental environments.
Immigration Policy as a Structural Determinant of Child Health
A recent Issues in Brief published by the Child Maltreatment Policy Resource Center describes immigration policy as a structural determinant of child health and well-being. In other words, immigration policy can shape the conditions in which children grow, learn, and develop, either favorably or unfavorably.
For many immigrant families, policy decisions may influence:
whether families remain together;
whether caregivers experience prolonged legal uncertainty;
whether families feel safe accessing healthcare or schools;
whether children experience chronic fear related to immigration enforcement.
These experiences affect far more than legal outcomes. They can influence children's emotional security, physical health, school performance, and long-term development.
Importantly, these effects may extend beyond children who are directly involved in immigration proceedings. Children may also experience distress when classmates, neighbors, or members of their community are affected by immigration enforcement or family separation.
Understanding Toxic Stress
One of the central concepts in developmental science is toxic stress.
Stress itself is a normal part of childhood. Children routinely encounter challenges such as learning new skills, starting school for the first time, or coping with disappointment. When supportive adults are available to help children manage these experiences, stress responses are temporary and become opportunities for growth and mastery.
Toxic stress is different.
It occurs when children experience intense or prolonged adversity without consistent support from caring adults. Under these circumstances, the body's stress response remains activated for extended periods, affecting multiple biological systems. Research has linked chronic activation of the stress response to changes in brain development, immune functioning, emotional regulation, and later physical and mental health.
This does not mean that every child exposed to adversity will experience poor outcomes. Rather, supportive caregiving relationships remain one of the strongest protective factors against the harmful effects of chronic stress.
Research Spotlight
Developmental science identifies stable caregiving relationships as one of the most important protective factors in childhood. According to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, consistent, responsive relationships help children regulate stress and support healthy brain development, even during periods of adversity.
This research highlights why policies affecting family stability deserve careful consideration whenever children's well-being is at stake.
Why This Matters for Professionals
Professionals who work with children—including child welfare practitioners, healthcare providers, educators, mental health clinicians, attorneys, and policymakers—regularly encounter children whose developmental needs are shaped by the environments in which they live.
Understanding child development can help professionals:
recognize how chronic uncertainty may affect children's behavior and emotional well-being;
appreciate the importance of maintaining stable caregiving relationships whenever possible;
consider how access to education, healthcare, and supportive services contributes to healthy development; and
incorporate developmental science into decision-making when evaluating policies or practices affecting children.
Viewing immigration policy through a child development lens does not require taking a position on broader policy debates. Instead, it encourages consideration of how children's developmental needs can be protected regardless of the legal or administrative context.
Learn More
This article introduces the developmental framework presented in the CMPRC Issues in Brief, Immigration Policy: A Structural Determinant of Child Health and Well-Being, which examines current research on how immigration-related policies influence children's development and offers evidence-informed recommendations to reduce harm and strengthen protective factors.
Research Spotlight
Looking Ahead in This Series
This article introduced immigration policy as a structural determinant of children's health and well-being and explored why child development provides an important lens for understanding how policies may influence children's lives.
In the next article, When Children Live with Chronic Fear: Understanding Stress, Safety, and Resilience, we'll examine one of the primary pathways identified in the research: how exposure to immigration enforcement and prolonged uncertainty may contribute to chronic stress in children and why supportive caregiving relationships remain one of the strongest protective factors for healthy development.
Learn More
This article is based on the CMPRC Issues in Brief, Immigration Policy: A Structural Determinant of Child Health and Well-Being, which reviews the developmental science, legal frameworks, and public health research informing these findings. Readers interested in a more comprehensive discussion and full reference list are encouraged to explore the complete publication.