Migrants’ Children: Making Sense of their Development and Welfare in the Context of the ‘Attachment Theory’

Abstract

The decision by migrant parents to leave their families and children behind is motivated by the desire to be lifted from poverty. The study focuses on the detrimental development effect on the children left behind by migration, although in the present economic climate, public and private sector employment also leads to family separation, with jobs being situated away from the homes. With this, the traditional role of the father being the breadwinner and mother the homemaker and stable presence is largely being dispelled. Parental absence is common, and this study aims to assess how children cope with these absences, what are the implications for their right to equal development with other children, and how neglect and abuse infringe upon this right. The framework of the Attachment theory is used by the authors to respond to these questions, the Attachment theory being “that relationships provide the key experience that connects children’s personal and social world.”