Abstract

LOPEZ MONTANO, Luz María  and  LOAIZA OROZCO, María Olga. International migrating parents and their families: Opportunities and new challenges. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2009, vol.7, n.2, pp.837-860. ISSN 1692-715X.

This article aims at analyzing international migration implications with reference to the satisfaction of needs and family interactions, when a parent emigrates and their sons or daughters, boys or girls, or adolescents remain under the responsibility of other relatives. Migration is considered as an opportunity which facilitates the access to economic resources, by means of remittances, with which subsistence requirements are met (food, education, health, shelter), and which generates new dynamics concerning care through the familial network (grandmother, mother, aunt), as material and affective support. The data were obtained from one hundred families located in the nine municipalities of the Colombian Coffee Growing Zone, with the participation of homes with an emigrant. Interviews deeply dealing with field work were administered to male and female caregivers and minors in urban zones. Family characteristics, meeting of needs, feelings and emotions resulting from interactions, care practices and some discussions to be considered in future studies are also presented in this article.

Keywords : international emigration; family; familial interaction; feelings; emotions; care practices; economic opportunities; sons and daughters.

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