Toward transnational care interdependence: Rethinking the relationships between care,immigration and social policy

Abstract

The intersections of international migration, care and welfare states have attracted increasing attention from social policy scholars, yet the focus on the commodification of care has led them largely to ignore kin-based unpaid care. Based on a study of Chinese grandparents’ caregiving experiences in Canada, this article shows how transnational families of Chinese skilled immigrants have participated in redistributing care resources, including emotion, time and cultural knowledge, across generations and countries. The article argues that states – in particular, the government of Canada as the host country – still have a crucial role to play in untangling the contradictions of immigration and care and addressing the inequalities embedded in transnational caregiving. To pursue global social justice, social policy makers need to take into account policy effects that go beyond the nation-state and its citizenry and intersect with such aspects of immigration as the spatial reconfiguration of the family, cultural change and ageing.