Conflicting Crosscurrents: Sense of Connection and Responses to Aging Parents' Care Needs across Distance

This paper analyses the experiences, reflections and imaginings of intra-European migrants about the present and future care of their ageing parents living in their country of origin. Conceptually, we draw on Mason's (2018) work on personal life connections that have potency, experienced not only with other people but also, for example, with particular places and environments. The notion of potent connections provides a multidimensional view that does not presuppose relational warmth and closeness, but highlights that such connective forces can be powerful even when charged with negativity. Empirically, we build on a study that explores potent connections through in-depth interviews (N=33) with working-age Spaniards and Finns living in Belgium. We analyse how they describe their ageing parents and their care needs. How do the potent connections they feel with their parents and the environments in which they live shape the way these adult children experience and respond to the care needs across distance? Our analysis reveals conflicting crosscurrents in people's lives, for example when return migration to care for a beloved ageing parent also means returning to a village where the social environment is perceived as suffocating, or when the shared history with the parent is marked by silence or abuse. We further analyse how the charges connecting people evolve when an ageing parent suffers from cognitive decline.