Transnational Caregiving of Older Parents: An Emerging Social Justice Issue for Social Work

Background and Purpose.

Research on the effects of globalization and immigration on family relationships has tended to focus on younger families. The issue of migrant adult children caring for their aging parents in their home country has generally been overlooked. Recently, scholars have investigated the opportunities and costs of transnational care for older relatives by adult children who have migrated to improve their lives. The purpose of this study was to review the empirical evidence on transnational caregiving to aging parents and summarize emergent themes that have implications for elder care globally.

The research question was:

The patterns and issues of transnational caregiving by migrant adults involving two or more countries differ from caregiving at a geographic distance within one country.

Methods.

Using the search terms of transnational caregiving and transnational caregivers, databases searched included Academic Search Complete, Ageline, PubMed, SocINDEX, and Web of Science. From 144 hits, 44 articles were identified by abstract, duplicates were eliminated, and 5 articles added by hand search from references, resulting in a review of 23 articles. Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed journal, empirical articles, published in English, two different countries, and caregiving dyads of migrant adult child in host country and aging parent in home country.

Results.

Countries of origin included Europe (52%), the Caribbean, Central and South America (22%), and Asia and South Asia (22%), and host countries were Australia (48%), USA (26%) and UK (17%). The primary rationale for migration was seeking better economic opportunities. Eight themes were identified: cohort, historical, demographic and life cycle factors; economic factors; cultural factors; identity of migrants; gendered caregiving roles; resistance to institutional care; emotional and financial costs of care; and use of technology.

Compared to caregiving at a geographic distance within one country, the use of financial remittance to family of origin helps to reduce migrant adult children’s guilt. Although daughters and daughters-in-law still tend to provide hands-on care, gender differences are less pronounced in transnational care, with men increasingly involved with care via the use of technology (phone, emails, Skype) as a means of communication. Both men and women try to visit for extended periods, even though this entails extensive planning and financial sacrifice, including time missed from work. These visits fulfill migrant children’s filial responsibility and confirm their ethnic identity and that of their dependent children. Institutionalization is rare and viewed as a caregiving failure.

Conclusions and Implications.

All review articles were published since 2000, reflecting the relatively recent attention given to transnational eldercare. Migrant adult children, regardless of country of origin, aim to care for their aging parents, despite high economic (remittance and travel cost to home countries) and emotional (worry and guilt) costs. Additional barriers are inflexible policies for family leave, especially when the parent is seriously ill or dying, which suggests the need for expanded workplace policies for extended home visits. Findings have implications for social workers to develop socially just responses to the needs of immigrants seeking to care for aging relatives in their home countries.