Children and Families

Abstract Chapter 1 explores the ways children’s rights to protection are reconstituted in the context of transnational migration. This chapter examines social protections for five categories of children: (1) children left behind, (2) noncitizen children born or growing up in countries of destination, (3) children sent ahead, (4) children sent back, and (5) internationally adopted children. Each group faces unique challenges and has access to different types and levels of resources, legitimated by the intersecting and sometimes competing logics of rights and entitlements—as minors, as family dependents, as citizens, and as consumers or commodities. Analyzing these different experiences makes visible the drastic changes that children and their families experience in our world on the move. The experiences of these children also underscore the importance of disaggregating citizenship and social rights, going beyond the nation to understand social protection strategies, and decentering the state’s role in the safety net.