Raising Children Born Aboard in the Country of Origin: A Specific Case of Fostering?

Based on a six-month long ethnographic study in Senegal, this paper explores the child fostering strategies of Senegalese migrants. Building on data collected in the town district of Yoff (Dakar), I study a specific and relatively understudied form (Grysole, Beauchemin, 2013) of transnational fostering (Kamga, Tillard, 2013) involving children, born in their parents’ countries of destination (specifically United States and Italy) and currently living in their parents’ country of origin, Senegal. I show how the national institutional contexts, such as the educational and health systems, the immigration policies, in both the parents’ countries of origin (Senegal) and the parents’ countries of destination (United States, Italy), shape the organisation of transnational families (Bryceson, Vuorela, 2002, Mazzucatto, Schans, 2008, Razy, Baby-Collin, 2011). Migrant parents examine the advantages and drawbacks of origin and destination countries, when deciding where their children should be raised. However, these children are also frequently affected by internal mobility (Vandermeersch, 2002) within Senegal in response, amongst other reasons, to parents’ work constraints, health issues, family solidarity, and educational choices. I then discuss the differences between various care-giving arrangements (internal and transnational fostering) within the extended families which have been studied.