Reorganización del cuidado de los hijos a partir de la emigración de uno o ambos progenitores en la parroquia Luis Cordero del cantón Azogues

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the ways in which childcare is restructured upon migration of one or both parents in Luis Cordero neighborhood. The purposes are also the identification of the sociocultural notion of childcare and migration, the identification of changes regarding childcare, and the role the extended family is playing in this process. This study features mixed-method descriptive research. For qualitative analysis 17 structured interviews were conducted, and for quantitative analysis 94 surveys were carried out, both based on the questionnaire by Susana Torio (2003): A socio-educational study of habits and trends in the behavior of families of children attending nursery and primary school. This study was adapted by Palacios and Villavicencio (2015) in their study called An evaluation of family educational styles in the city of Cuenca. The qualitative results show that both caregivers and children of immigrants have two types of opinions on migration: It is positive when it is related to economic welfare, but it is negative too because they are physically and emotionally distant from their families. The quantitative results show that childcare is transferred to mothers in 43.9% and childcare practices are maintained within the extended family: 37.3% for grandmothers, 10.6% for aunts, and 3.2%for great aunts; 1.1% for a female friend. This analysis might encourage researchers to undertake studies on strategies that may be adopted to look after children of immigrants to improve their lives.