Contains the proceedings of a March 2000 conference convened to examine the needs of Asian Pacific American (APA) children and establish priorities for advocacy. National APA advocacy has focused on such issues as immigration, civil rights, and political participation, to the neglect of child services. Sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund in collaboration with the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, the conference recognized that advocacy on behalf of APA children is complicated by ethnic diversity, scattered geographic distribution, and intergenerational and socioeconomic differences. Conference participants addressed: overall trends, K-12 education, child health and mental health services, child abuse, bias crime and violence, and poverty and welfare reform. The priorities they identified include: (1) organizing youth and parents to participate actively in program planning; (2) holding systems accountable to APA community needs; (3) strengthening APA advocacy with better datacollection, evaluation, and needs assessments; (4) developing links inside and outside the APA community to maximize resources and expertise; (5) promoting cross-cultural understanding; and (6) increasing representation of Asian Americans in the education, policy, health, and human services professions.
