Tag Archive for: Children in the Fields

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Essay Contest Provides Insight into the Lives of Farmworker Youth

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“….it makes me sad to see children out in the steaming hot sun….I believe children should not be in the fields with their parents suffering the same way.”
–Daisy Ortiz, 14, who has worked with her parents picking peaches, blueberries, and apples

NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg and I recently had the privilege of serving as judges for an essay contest put on by one of our Children in the Fields Campaign partners, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs. The contest called for farmworker children to address their hopes and dreams for the future and the challenges that stood in their way.

The essays were truly inspiring. Many of the kids work and go to school. Many have lived in more poverty and uncertainty in their short lives than many of us have experienced in longer lives. Their occupational dreams mirror those of other kids. The entrants said they wanted to be a doctor, artist, baseball player, customs officer, social worker, computer engineer, actor, soccer player, psychologist, architect, model, firefighter, dancer, police officer, journalist, teacher, cosmetologist, lawyer, nurse, novelist, pilot, interpreter, boxer, and mechanic. Many said they wanted to be the first person in their family to go to college.

Israel Rodriguez, a 15-year-old from Salem, Oregon and the winner of the essay in the 14- to 18-year-old category, said that his dream was to go to law school so that he could “fight against injustices… that affect migrant and seasonal farmworkers. “

Israel Rodriguez, 15

Child labor, migration and poverty are just a few of the many obstacles that stand in the way of achieving those dreams.

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For migrant students, a cycle of dwindling opportunities

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To read this article at the Washington Post, please click here.

By Kevin Sieff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2010; 8:48 PM

In her purple school binder, 13-year-old Ellifina Jean counted down the last days of the apple harvest, crossing off one box every afternoon, bringing her closer to a big smiley face and the words, scrawled in all caps: “DADDY’S LAST DAY OF WORK!”

Ellifina and her family were preparing to leave Virginia’s Winchester area apple orchards for Florida’s orange groves before heading north again, toward New Jersey, in search of blueberries. For Ellifina, each season brings a new school and a new list of courses that bears little resemblance to the last.

Such relentless mobility challenges the schools charged with educating the nation’s 475,000 migrant students. Many never start school, and in Virginia one-third fail to graduate on time. Migrant students trail others in performance on the state’s reading and math tests. That poses a major challenge for schools because federal law has set a goal for all students to pass those tests by 2014.

The stakes are even higher for the students themselves. “If these kids don’t settle in one place by high school, graduation is basically an impossibility,” said Katy Pitcock, who worked for Winchester’s migrant education program for 25 years, until 2004.

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ILRF: U.S. Is Out of Compliance of Convention 182 Because of Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture

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CARE Act Summary by First Focus Campaign for Children, May 2010

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“Fields of Peril” Human Rights Watch Investigates Child Labor in U.S. Agriculture, May 2010

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Human Rights Watch Report Exposes “Fields of Peril”

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Fields of Peril

Child Labor in US Agriculture

May 5, 2010

In this 99-page report Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers risked their safety, health, and education on commercial farms across the United States. For the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 59 children under age 18 who had worked as farmworkers in 14 states in various regions of the United States.

https://www.hrw.org/node/90126

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The CARE Act Had 107 Cosponsors in Last Congress

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[The current Congress has not yet seen the expected re- introduction of the CARE Act. The information below if for the Congress that ended in December of 2010].

The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment

The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE) would extend child labor protections to U.S. agriculture. It would prohibit 12- and 13-year-olds from working in agriculture. It would extend labor protections to 14- and 15-year-olds that all other young workers currently enjoy, restricting the hours you can work and prohibiting work that is unsafe. It would also bar 16- and 17-year-olds from doing work that is none to be hazardous–as is the case in all other industries. The bill also calls for increased fines, added pesticide protections for children, and injury reporting requirements for growers when young workers are injured.

(CARE), HR 3564, has 105 Cosponsors

Rep. Abercrombie, Neil

Rep. Baca, Joe

Rep. Becerra, Xavier

Rep. Berman, Howard

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New York Times Highlights Plight of Farmworker Children

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Efforts to protect farmworker children received a boost in June, 2010 when the NY Times front page featured an article on child labor in U.S. agriculture:

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/19migrant.html?emc=eta1

An accompanying slide show can be found here:

https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/19/us/20100619_BERRY.html