LaGuardia Community College: Melissa Noel Focuses on Migration and Family Separation

Award-winning freelance multimedia journalist Melissa Noel presents her reporting on the impacts of migration on Caribbean children at LaGuardia Community College on Thursday, November 29, 2018. 

The Caribbean is a region where migration out of economic necessity is extremely common. Typically, such migration is viewed as having positive economic effects, for families and for the region. The negative impact this can have on the well being of children, who are often separated from their parents for several years, is often not taken into account.

Caribbean children left behind when parents migrate to another country–who receive material support in the form of goods sent in a shipping barrel–are often referred to as 'barrel children."

Noel's Pulitzer Center-supported reporting project explores the complexities of migration on the island of Jamaica. She examines the long-term impact that prolonged parental separation can have on Caribbean children and speaks with the health professionals who are pushing to create better ways to support these children and their families, both in the region and the diaspora.

The Thursday talk is part of her two-day visit to this Campus Consortium partner, where Noel also meets with students and faculty in classes and via more informal sessions.