Resumen de Honduran Transnational Families: Experiences of Women Caring for Children of Migrant Parents

Nerea Larrinaga Bidegain, Yolanda Hernández Albujar, Marco Gemignani

• In today’s transnational families, the sharing of responsibilities and the organization of care for children or adolescents is central to the lives of those who remain in charge of minors in the country of origin when one or both parents emigrate. This qualitative research gathers and analyses the needs, experiences, and affects of this caregiving population, mainly made up of women, in the context of Western Honduras. Taking an interdisciplinary look at the family challenges of transnationality, our research aims to understand the ways in which care maintains family ties across physical distance. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups, we identify and analyze some of the main changes in gender roles, social responsibility, communication, affects and institutional support that occur in transnational families. The mediating role caregivers adopt and the lack of clarity about their responsibilities are central issues in their narratives.