Early childhood experts know that nutrition assistance, affordable health insurance, quality child care, and early learning opportunities are vital for children’s healthy development. But we also know that many immigrant families are worried about participating in programs like SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, and CHIP.Parents are concerned about how their private information will be shared and that participating in such programs—even for their U.S. citizen-children—will impact their ability to obtain long-term status in the U.S.

These fears are only heightened by a recently published final rule that dramatically changes the meaning and application of “public charge” in immigration law, which will take effect on October 15 if it is not stopped by litigation.

In this webinar, we focused specifically on how the rule impacts young children in immigrant families and discussed how to answer commonly asked questions from families about participating in publicly funded programs and services.