Caregiver Perspectives on Discussing Immigration Legal Status in a Medical Setting

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) address legal issues, including challenges around immigration status, that contribute to health outcomes. This study evaluated our MLP-a collaboration between our pediatric primary care center and nonprofit legal organization. We assessed patient/family comfort and acceptability of conversations regarding immigration legal needs as well as attitudes toward incorporating legal services in a health care setting. Fifty-one participants were surveyed during medical visits and more than 80% reported immigration status concerns, despite nearly half never having sought legal assistance. Most participants (74.5%) found conversations around legal topics very appropriate (on a 5-point Likert scale) and 75.8% were completely comfortable having these discussions in the medical context. The majority (94.1%) identified primary care sites as an appropriate location for these discussions. These results indicate that asking about immigration legal needs within a health care setting is acceptable among immigrant families and primary care centers can be effective sites to co-locate services.