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In this episode, Anna Haag discusses the impacts of growing up in mixed families. She shares her own experience of having a German father who immigrated to the US and talks about the unique challenges and experiences she had. She then explores a study on how immigration affects children and adolescents, focusing on the perspectives of Latino parents with mixed-status children. The study reveals two themes: how parents perceive their children's life paths given their legal status, and the fears and anxieties they have regarding their children's citizenship. Anna also reflects on her own dual citizenship and the responsibilities that come with it. She highlights the struggles faced by undocumented families and the emotional and behavioral effects on their children. The study emphasizes the stigmas, missed opportunities, and limitations these children experience. Anna encourages listeners to recognize the personal stories behind these statistics and provides resources for immigrants seeki Welcome. I am Anna Haag and this is Exploring the Unknown. In today's episode, I'm going to be discussing the impacts of children growing up in mixed families. This has impacted my childhood, but not as much as others probably have. My dad was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to the U.S. in his 20s. He was only supposed to be here for work for two years until he met my mom at that job. I decided to extend his visa and eventually ended up marrying my mom. Growing up in a family with parents from different countries set me apart sometimes. I had experiences that others around me didn't, and when my friends would come over to my house, they were terrified because my dad, when he spoke to them, had a little bit of a sicker accent. I know that people have it much worse, and in their mixed families, and children themselves immigrating. So, I investigated articles that did research on how immigration affects children and adolescent lives. An article that I found, Latino Parents' Perspective on the Life Trajectories of Mixed-Status Children, presented a study done by a team of researchers. The study asked how parental perceptions of the life trajectories of mixed statuses affect their development and resilience. There are two themes that are revealed in this article. The first one involves how parents perceive the life paths of their children, considering both citizenship status and the parental worries related to their children's mixed legal standing. The second theme revolves around parents expressing apprehensions regarding their children's citizenship, and exploring how they navigate and manage the associated fear and anxiety. I know that was a lot to take in, but we will dig deeper as we go. For a little bit of perspective, I'm a dual citizen in the U.S. and Germany. But that is because my dad, before I turned 18, signed some papers that allowed my brothers and I to be citizens. But I remember sitting down with my dad, quizzing him for his citizenship exams, because something a lot of people don't know is that if you live in a country, you still have to pay taxes to the place where you were born. This is something many children do not have to do for their parents. Now, I don't have to, per se, but if helping my dad study meant staying in the U.S., then that's what I was going to do. This is something I feel like I take for granted, and this article is a bit different in the fact that these families are undocumented. I couldn't imagine my entire family fighting for citizenship. Their study is called the Broken Family Project, and it explored the family immigration status and its potential effects on the emotional and behavioral well-being of adolescents within the Latino community in Oklahoma. The researchers studied how youth lacking legal authorization to be in the U.S. and families with mixed immigration statuses have delved into parents' perspectives on how the life trajectories of their non-U.S. citizen children might diverge from those of the U.S. citizenship children. Youth that do not have legalization in the states experience greater stigmas and missed opportunities and milestones that mark adulthood. Now, participants of this study had to be adults who immigrated from Mexico or Central America and had children between 10 and 18. The others were the children of these families, and they were both asked questions by the researchers. They asked things like, what would a parent's major concern be about their children? Why? How do you think Mario or Maria's feelings about his or her education? Will they take both boys or girls to the doctor? Why or why not? From the results of these questions, there were two major themes that had emerged, one being parental perspectives on the children's life paths based on U.S. citizenship, or the other, the absence thereof and parental apprehensions related to the mixed legal status of their children. I think it is also important for us to remember that we recognize the personal stories behind these statistics. These are families with dreams, fears, and desires to provide the best for their children. Like my dad, these parents immigrate here with the intention of giving their children the best life that they can provide. With that being said, the results of the Broken Family Project found that parents were concerned that their children felt they had no future, access to health care, travel restrictions, and blocked educational opportunities. I think that there are lots of resources for immigrants to get help that they need. I just think that there is this fear that if they get help, they will be deported. Although there are many hardships with being raised in a mixed family, this experiment found there is so much resilience within these families. If you are listening and you want to get help for someone you know, or you need help, there is a link in the bio, and it has so many resources. Their mission of this website is to help immigrants get legal services. Get involved by donating or joining the group that provides resources to help those in need. Thank you for listening to today's episode. Come back next week for more Exploring the Unknown.