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Transnational family networks:听
An analysis of caregiving arrangements within migrant families

The Transnational Family Networks project focuses on the maintenance of family solidarity across borders, by examining the experiences of Dominican and Brazilian migrants in Belgium, and their relatives (ageing parents and siblings) in the home country. The specific question this study addresses is the extent to which transnational adult migrants are able to exchange care and support with their geographically distant parents, and听the specific role that intra-familial dynamics play in the exchange of care between adult migrants, their siblings and their ageing paren迟蝉.听

In order to grasp the diversity and complexity of family care within transnational families, the study focuses on听three types of caregiving arrangements:

• long distance caregiving, that is, provision of financial, emotional and practical support from a distance ;
• aged migration, that is, permanent or temporary migration of dependent elderly parents in order to be cared for by their child(ren) in the host country and/or care for their grandchildren ;
• and permanent or temporary migrants鈥� repatriation in order to provide personal care to disabled parents.

Of particular relevance here is an analysis of the processes by which family commitments are negotiated within families whose members are living in different countries. Particular attention is paid to听gendered dynamics and power relations听within the families, as well as other听structural factors听that impact on people鈥檚 capacity to negotiate their contribution to the provision of care.

This project is located within the growing literature on transnational families that has emerged over the past decade. The notion of 鈥榯ransnational families鈥� acknowledges the fact that migration does not end with settlement and that migrants maintain regular contacts with their dispersed kin. Transnational families have been defined as 鈥渇amilies that live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely 鈥榝amilyhood鈥�, even across national borders鈥� (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002: 18). This research builds on a broad understanding of transnational families that involves multidirectional exchanges between several generations, with a specific interest in caregiving relationships between ageing parents and adult migrants. Research in this field has shown that, contrary to the assumption that geographical distance negatively affects kin relationships,听transnational families exchange all the forms of care and support that are exchanged in proximate families (Baldassar et al. 2007). These not only include financial assistance, but also emotional and practical support that can be exchanged transnationally through the use of various communication technologies, and personal care and accommodation which require co-presence and can only be exchanged during visits. This perspective highlights the fact that,听over the life-course, members of transnational family networks are passively and actively engaged in the reciprocal, though uneven, exchange of care that 鈥榗irculates鈥� within and between home and host societies听(Baldassar and Merla, 2014). These circuits of care thus involve both geographically proximate and distant family members, connecting local and transnational care circuits.

This research will provide an understanding of the听challenges that migration from Latin America to Europe poses to intra-familial solidarity听and the participation of migrants to the care of their parents, and deepen our understanding of a variety of issues that include, the听impact of migration policies on family solidarity, the听relations between migration and development听through an analysis of the migrants鈥� contribution to his/her parents鈥� wealth, the specificities of听work-family balance issues听for transnational families, and the听use of communication technologies听within migrant families.听
Major studies in the field were carried out by Australian and North American academics, while research in Europe has mainly focused on the UK and Southern Europe. It is therefore important to develop further this field of study in the European context. By increasing our knowledge and understanding of the lives of migrant workers, further research in the field will also听contribute to the design of policies aimed at improving the situation of migrants in Europe.

This project has received funding from the Belgian National Funds for Research (FNRS), the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo) and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7_PEOPLE_2011_CIG) under grant agreement n掳 293461.

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