Abstract |
More than 1.7 million Sri Lankans now work abroad. Out of them a large majority are employed as female domestic workers. A significant number of them are women, having left their children with a caregiver. In addition to husbands, kin-carers; primarily female relatives of the migrant worker look after their left behind children. Literature state that the left behind children experience health, academic and psychosocial problems. This is mainly due to the absence of the mother and inadequate supervision they receive from their caregivers. Some children are reported to have experienced neglect and abuse from their caregivers. On the other hand, literature also convey that significant number of kin carers has stated that they too experienced health, financial and behavioural issues; due to looking after the left behind children. Though there is a growing literature on the impact of female migration and its impact on their children, none of those studies have explored the specific role of the kin-carers in the lives of the left behind children. However, there is a need to acknowledge the significant contributions made by the kin carers pertaining to the care and wellbeing of the left behind children. Therefore, the paper aims to explore specific proactive, sustainable interventions to promote psychosocial wellbeing within the left behind children through providing recommendations to support kin carers, in the continuum of grass root to policy level implications. |