A Left-Behind Child From El Alto Protection Strategies and Redefinition of Kinship Ties for The Children of Migrant Women in Bolivia
A Left-Behind Child From El Alto Protection Strategies and Redefinition of Kinship Ties for The Children of Migrant Women in Bolivia

Author(s): Robin Cavagnoud
Subject(s): Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Child; el alto; protection strategies; kinship ties; children; migrant women; Bolivia;
Summary/Abstract: Daniel is a 16-year-old teenager living in El Alto, Bolivia. He has no siblings and never met his father. For the past 10 years, his mother has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she moved to work in a sewing factory. After her departure, Daniel moved to his grandmother’s home, where his aunt, uncle and cousins also live. Following the death of his grandmother, Daniel’s maternal aunt became his guardian, responsible for caring for him and raising him. Daniel is a left-behind child. Like many other children in Bolivia, he did not travel with his parents, in this case his mother, when she decided to emigrate. She preferred to entrust this care to his grandmother, then his aunt, two female members of her own family. Most of the leftbehind children in Bolivia are the children of migrant mothers who have moved mainly to Argentina and Spain, and these parents have often experienced marital breakdown. Their unique individual situation raises questions that are at the intersection of blended families, protection strategies, redefinition of kinship ties, and the journey to autonomy in adolescence.

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