In 2000 there were 2.84 million foreign-born U.S. residents under the age of 18 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). Although many common themes are embodied in the immigrant experience, enormous diversity exists among newcomer families with important implications for the development and adaptation of youth. The adaptation experience of immigrant youth can vary greatly depending upon their lives in their country of origin, the availability of internal and external resources and the welcome they receive. Understanding the varied resources and experiences that immigrants have is critical for service professionals trying to meet the needs of immigrant youth as they adapt to life in the United States. In this article the authors present quantitative and qualitative data that their research team collected and analyzed as part of the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA), a 5-year longitudinal study, which documents the patterns of adaptation among 407 recently-arrived youth from China, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. The participants in this study were all foreign-born and had parents who were born in the same country. At recruitment, participants had spent at least two-thirds of their lives in their country of origin and spoke a native language other than English. The participants were between the ages of 9 and 14 during the first year of the study, meaning that not only were they of an age range that allowed them to experience schooling abroad and the U.S., it also allowed them to reflect on their experiences of migration and development. In addition to student data, this study collected data from parents and teachers. The findings of this research project highlight the complexity and diversity of experiences among newcomer youth and the need for developing policy, prevention, and intervention that are relevant for them. (Contains 1 table.)