Crossing Boundaries to Education: Haitian Transnational Families and the Quest to Raise the Family Up

A Descriptive Case Study Examining the Perceptions of Haitian American Parents and the Perceptions of their Children’s Teachers on the Parents’ Involvement in a Structured Parent Intervention Program

“…Florida has one of the highest populations of individuals identifying as being African-American and Caribbean, with Haitians included, and the second highest population of Hispanics in the Eastern United States. Haitian migrants have come to the United States since the Caribbean nation gained its independence from France in 1804 (Nicholas, 2014;Portes & Zhou, 1993). From 1950From -1970 nearly eight percent of the Haitian population emigrated (Nicholas, 2014).…”

“…Haitian migrants have come to the United States since the Caribbean nation gained its independence from France in 1804 (Nicholas, 2014;Portes & Zhou, 1993). From 1950From -1970 nearly eight percent of the Haitian population emigrated (Nicholas, 2014). In particular those with money, education, and professional, business, or trade skills found it possible to seek opportunities elsewhere (Catanese, 1999).…”

“…Of the 548,199 persons of Haitian ancestry living in the United States in 2000, more than 155,000 lived in the South Florida counties of Miami-Dade and Broward where they comprised approximately four percent of the population (Nicholas, 2014;U.S. Census 2000).…”

“…Census 2000). About two thirds are first generation immigrants, that is foreign born (Nicholas, 2014). In 2000, Florida was home to 183,000 foreign-born Haitians, a figure that represented 43.5% of the total foreign-born population from Haiti.…”

“…The number of Haitian parents with school age children has also been on the rise in South Florida, and more so in Broward County, for a number of years (Nicholas, 2014;Stepick, 1998). Haitians are a sub-group of the African American population that is not specifically identified as a separate ethnic group.…”