The Immigrant Child Health Toolkit is presented as an Example in Action to inspire the work of organization’s providing care or services to immigrant families. This toolkit focuses on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, and can serve as a model document for providers in other geographic regions.

The Immigrant Child Health Toolkit was created by the Immigrant Health Workgroup, which is part of the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (DC AAP), and is spearheaded by pediatricians at Children’s National Hospital and other local health centers. The Immigrant Health Workgroup’s main objective is to achieve health equity for immigrant children and families- which make up a large and growing portion of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region and which have been marginalized, historically. The workgroup has been meeting almost monthly since 2014 to function as a sounding board and support network for one another, to advocate for immigrant communities and to help educate other care providers to the best standards in providing care.

In 2015, after being awarded an AAP Friends of Children Healthy People 2020 grant, the group created the toolkit as a resource for those working with and caring for immigrant children and their families. With the help of the volunteer group Design for America, numerous care providers were interviewed to determine content and presentation of the online toolkit. Initially targeting medical care providers seeing recently arrived immigrant children, the toolkit is now a repository of general information, guidelines, and resources for anyone caring for immigrant families- including clinical best practice guidelines, information around educational and public service benefits access, and immigration legal service providers. The toolkit has been used by clinical care providers, educators, social workers, and other community advocates serving immigrant children, and also as a teaching tool for medical trainees. The DC AAP Immigrant Health Workgroup continues to make periodic edits and updates to keep the information as up-to-date as possible.

For More Information:
Daniel Newman, MD
Associate Medical Director
Children’s National at Columbia Heights
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Email: [email protected]