Caring for the Special Child and Transnational Parenting

A growing literature highlights the significance of transnational strategies of survival and mobility. These strategies include those of mothers and father who  seek jobs abroad in order to earn money to support the children they have left behind in the country of origin.  When the legal options are available, parents may also seek to eventually bring their children with them to the place of migration. In this paper I explore these dynamics in relation to a specific set of circumstances: the presence of a child who is disabled or sick. In general, the potential role played by medical conditions in migration decisions is unexplored and this is certainly the case with respect to the negotiation of transnational parenting in relation to a disabled or sick child.  I draw on preliminary data from two sources in the discussion:  the legal hearings on  2 reported asylum cases in which the difficulties of caring for a special needs child were prominent  as well as 3 pilot in-depth interviews with immigrant parents in the USA, one involving a special needs child who remained in the country of origin and the other two with disabled children living with them in the U.S.  Along with an extensive literature review, I draw on this preliminary data set to map out a series of questions, both theoretical and methodological, on the relationship of children's disability or sickness on the character of transnational parenting.