Care, Inequality & Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe: a transnational intergenerational study in Spain, France, Sweden & UK (CAREWELL-TF)

This innovative transnational research project will investigate the relationships between care, inequalities & wellbeing among different generations of transnational families in the UK, Spain, France & Sweden.

European societies are undergoing significant demographic shifts due to population ageing & increased international migration, resulting in major changes in the provision of care, social protection & intergenerational responsibilities. These transformations may exacerbate existing inequalities facing migrant carers.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis has brought into stark relief the care deficits many European countries are confronting as ageing societies.This comparative project will compare migrant transnational families’ experiences within 4 study countries with contrasting welfare models, migration regimes & post-colonial legacies.

Using a multi-sited family-focused ethnographic & participatory action research methodology, we will work with partner organisations to train migrant peer researchers & support them to undertake research with families, building trust & capacity within communities.

We will select a diverse sample of 100 transnational families (25 in each country) of different ethnicities & varying legal status from two contrasting regions in each country to compare experiences at different urban and rural scales, as well as between countries.

We will engage with 3 or 4 different generations, including family members living in countries of origin/other settlement countries. We will select 20-30 case study families for in-depth ethnographic research.

We aim to match the sample with family members living in different study countries, to explore onward migration & resource flows & compare differing entitlements to social protection.

The study will provide unique insights into how family care practices are negotiated between & within different generations of transnational famillies in Europe, while also considering their family ties in countries of origin.

It will explore the impacts of care on younger, middle & older generations’ wellbeing & opportunities & how social reproductive & productive work are shaped by intersecting inequalities of gender, age & generation, disability, race, ethnicity/cultural background & socio-economic & legal status.

It will include a specific focus on young caregiving & how this affects children’s wellbeing, education & opportunities.

The project is timely & will capture the health, economic, social & emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on transnational families as the crisis unfolds, including changing intergenerational caring responsibilities & mobility strategies.

This interdisicplinary project will also explore how language barriers may perpetuate inequalities facing transnational carers & how  younger generations may provide ´language-brokering´ & help older family members to navigate bureaucratic legal & administrative systems to claim their rights.

The project will achieve significant societal impacts by providing a valuable evidence-based to inform policy in improving the wellbeing & equality of transnational families in Europe.

It will embed the learning in practice through the co-production of culturally appropriate tools & training materials that support young & adult carers & transnational families.

The findings & outputs will be disseminated through community screenings, regional stakeholder workshops, key academic & practitioner conferences & an international interdisciplinary Symposium.

The project will produce 14 high impact journal articles in the fields of migration studies, social & emotional geographies, childhood & youth studies, family sociology, sociolinguistics & migrant language education & a co-edited volume. The dataset will be archived for future researchers´ use.