Undocumented children are being denied access to Head Start

Aug. 11

In an unprecedented move, a new federal directive targets undocumented children and families by denying them access to the early childhood education program known as Head Start.

More than 17,000 children are enrolled in Head Start across the state. Researchers say children who receive early childhood education are less likely to break the law and are even likely to live longer.

“The implementation of the statute targets those most vulnerable at the end of the day, it really does,” said Eve Del Real, Director of Early Head Start and Head Start. “And when you think about who Head Start serves, it’s those most vulnerable.”

Del Real shared her thoughts on the recent Trump Administration’s directive to allow only U.S. citizen children to be a part of the program.

“As we know, SNAP benefits have been reduced, so have other health benefits. Head Start fills the gap in so many ways because we have integrated services.”

Head start offers more than early education; it helps low-income families find stable housing and provides other vital resources, focusing on uplifting and keeping families out of poverty.

Susana Pena is a Head Start teacher at Educare, which participates in research and development in early education. Before becoming a teacher, Pena said she was a single mother, but at the time, she had no idea Head Start existed. Pena said taking part in a Head Start program, knowing her children were in a safe learning environment, would have been life changing for her.

And due to President Trump’s recent immigration policies, she sees worried parents scared to even enter her classroom to drop off their kids at school. She described how it’s affected one of her students.

“They can feel their parents fear, you know, it kind of impacted him and probably through his day,” Del Real said. “We think kids don’t understand what we’re saying, but kids do understand what we say; kids hear and they know.”

Parents of children enrolled in Head Start range from essential frontline workers to full-time students who contribute to the state’s economy and to the community as a whole.

“Taking that layer away from a family during this time could be detrimental,” Del Real said. “I know we talk a lot about that it creates uncertainty, but what it does is that it creates instability that will have a generational impact.”

Program leaders feel there is a misconception that Head Start is just free child care, and they want to make it clear, Pena said, that “Head Start is for the children, for the family, for the community. Head Start is more than head start – it’s family.”

Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.