Immigrant Parents’ Beliefs About the U.S. Child Welfare System: The Role of Information Sources and Familiarity

Immigrant parents’ beliefs about the U.S. child welfare system may shape whether families seek support, disclose family needs, or avoid formal systems. Yet limited research has examined how these beliefs are organized or how they are associated with information sources and perceived familiarity with the system. Guided by cognitive schema and institutional trust frameworks, this study examined beliefs about the U.S. child welfare system among 295 foreign-born parents whose immigration status could be classified as permanent or temporary/other documented. Exploratory factor analysis of 11 investigator-developed belief items suggested two related dimensions: Perceived Child Welfare System Reach and Activity and Mistrustful and Stigmatizing Beliefs. Hierarchical ordinary least squares regression models examined associations between these belief dimensions and sociodemographic characteristics, immigration-related factors, psychosocial covariates, information sources, and self-reported familiarity. Information-source indicators explained additional variance in both belief dimensions. Internet searches and television or radio were associated with higher Perceived Child Welfare System Reach and Activity. The most notable finding was that parents who reported being unfamiliar with the child welfare system expressed stronger agreement across both dimensions. This association became stronger when unfamiliarity was defined as selecting no other information source. Findings suggest that unfamiliarity should not be understood as the absence of beliefs. Instead, immigrant parents with limited direct knowledge may still hold strong views shaped by indirect information, community narratives, and broader experiences with public institutions. Child welfare agencies and immigrant-serving organizations should provide clear, culturally responsive, and multilingual information about mandated reporting, parental rights, poverty-related need, neglect, and the range of child welfare responses.