Care, Inequality and Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe, 2022-2024

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This research project investigated the relationships between care, inequalities and wellbeing among different generations of transnational families in the UK, Spain, France and Sweden. ‘Transnational families’ are family groups where one or more family members spend all or most of their time geographically separated across borders, but share a collective sense of connection as a ‘family’. This project established a new transnational interdisciplinary network across the four partner countries. The network built the capacity of migrants and practitioners through developing research skills and co-producing knowledge. It also built the capacity of early career and established academics through mutual learning in participatory and ethnographic approaches. The consortium facilitated comparative research that is influencing policy and practice changes to improve the equality and wellbeing of migrant carers of different generations. The research has shown that transnational families simultaneously manage multiple caring responsibilities, both proximately for family members, and by caring at a distance for kin living in other countries. Families’ opportunities and access to social protection are shaped by intersecting inequalities based on legal status, nationality, race and ethnicity, disability/chronic illness, socio-economic status, language-related inequalities, gender and generation. The physical and mental health, economic, social and emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were interlinked for migrants and led to the further marginalisation of transnational families, particularly those with insecure legal status and low socio-economic status. The deficits of migration and care regimes, alongside the absence of kin, create the need for children and youth to take on caring roles in transnational families. Children’s care work is often invisible, but may be crucial in enabling parents/relatives to fill gaps in care provision, facilitating access to public services through language and digital brokering. The accelerated shift towards digital technology becoming the primary gateway to access public services particularly affects older generations and those with low levels of literacy or language proficiency in the dominant societal language and increases the reliance on younger generations. The research highlighted several barriers to accessing affordable, appropriate and high-quality language education provision. Negative impacts of caregiving were evidenced among middle and younger generations in terms of their education, employment and finances, family relationships, social participation, health and wellbeing. Such impacts could have significant implications for carers’ long term opportunities and wellbeing, especially among transnational families with high care needs who were already facing financial hardships and insecurity. Policy recommendations focus on levelling out inequalities, expanding the definition of ‘family’ in reunification policies, recognising children’s care work in transnational families, making public services more accessible, welcoming and inclusive for migrant carers and their families. The findings across the four countries have been published in an open access Report (Summary also available in French, Spanish and Swedish), 4 Policy Briefs and 11 academic articles to date, 13 accessible film outputs and disseminated through regional workshops, an international Symposium and professional networks. We guest-edited a special issue of Population, Space and Place journal on ‘Intergenerational care, inequalities and wellbeing among transnational families in Europe’, which includes 5 papers based on the findings.

This innovative comparative research project investigated the relationships between care, inequalities and wellbeing among different generations of transnational families in the UK, Spain, France & Sweden. The COVID-19 crisis has brought into stark relief the care deficits many European countries are confronting as ageing societies, with low-paid women migrants often filling gaps in formal care provision, while their own caring responsibilities for kin are often overlooked. Demographic shifts due to population ageing and increased international migration are leading to major changes in the provision of care, social protection and intergenerational responsibilities. These transformations may exacerbate existing inequalities facing migrant families with care needs. The project compared migrant carers' and transnational families' experiences within four partner countries with contrasting welfare models, migration regimes and post-colonial legacies. Using a multi-sited family-focused ethnographic & participatory action research methodology, we worked with partner organisations to train migrant peer researchers and supported them to undertake research with families, building trust and capacity within communities. We selected a diverse sample of 124 transnational families with care needs (total of 323 participants) of different ethnicities and varying legal status from two contrasting regions in each country and with family members living in countries of origin/other countries. We also selected 20 case study families for in-depth ethnographic research. The study provided unique insights into how family care practices are negotiated between and within different generations of transnational families in Europe, while also considering their family ties in countries of origin. This timely project captured the health, economic, social & emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on transnational families, including changing intergenerational caring responsibilities and mobility strategies. It explored the impacts of care on younger, middle and older generations' wellbeing and opportunities and how social reproductive and productive work are shaped by intersecting inequalities of gender, age and generation, disability, race, ethnicity/cultural background and socio-economic & legal status. It included a specific focus on young caregiving and how this affects children's wellbeing, education and opportunities. This interdisciplinary project also explored how language barriers may perpetuate inequalities facing transnational carers and how younger generations may provide 'language-brokering' and help older family members to navigate bureaucratic legal and administrative systems to claim their rights. The project will achieve significant societal impacts by providing a valuable evidence-base to inform policy in improving the wellbeing and equality of transnational families in Europe. It ihas shared the learning in practice through the co-production of policy and practice films and documentaries that raise awareness and support young and adult carers in transnational families. The findings and outputs have been disseminated through community screenings, regional stakeholder workshops, key academic and practitioner conferences and an international interdisciplinary Symposium. The project will produce numerous high impact journal articles in the fields of migration studies, social and emotional geographies, childhood and youth studies, family sociology, sociolinguistics and migrant language education and a co-edited volume. The dataset will be archived for future researchers' use.