The Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) is cooperating with the National University of Singapore and the University of St. Andrews  (Scotland) in carrying out the Children and Migrant Parents in Southeast Asia (CHAMP-SEA) Project in the Philippines. Other participating countries are Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

CHAMP-SEA is a three-year study that aims to examine the health and well-being of young children of migrants, i.e., children under 12 years of age. The study will explore how the health and well-being of the children of migrants are affected when fathers, or mothers, or both parents leave to work abroad. It will also examine the role of the extended family and the role of community-based programs and institutions in providing care to the children of migrants. Although the focus of the study is on the children of migrant workers, data will also be collected on children and families in non-migrant households.

Following the development of instruments and the conduct of a pilot survey in late 2007, CHAMP-SEA embarked on the survey part of the study in the first quarter of 2008. In the Philippines, the survey of 1,000 households was carried out in the provinces of Laguna and Bulacan, two of the major source-provinces of Filipino migrant workers. SMC cooperated with San Pablo Colleges and Bulacan State University in the conduct of the survey in Laguna and Bulacan, respectively.

In 2009, CHAMP-SEA had another round of data collection: the conduct of in-depth interviews with selected households Laguna.  The fieldwork was done in May and June 2009 . Working papers, reports and policy briefs will be part of the dissemination strategies as data become available