Reconciliation of work and care among lone mothers of adults with intellectual disabilities: the role and limits of care capital

Abstract

In this study, the concept of social capital is applied to an exploration of Guanxi (social networking to create good relationships) among working lone mothers of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Taiwan. Using in‐depth interviews, this study explores the role of social capital, here referred to as ‘care capital’, in making it possible for working lone mothers to combine their roles as family carers and workers. Eleven divorced or widowed mothers combining their paid work with long‐term care responsibilities were recruited from a survey or through NGOs and were interviewed at their home between October 2008 and July 2010. An interpretative phenomenological approach was adopted for data analysis. The findings revealed that the mothers’ care capital was extremely limited and was lost, gained and lost again during their life‐cycles of long‐term care‐giving. Guanxi, especially in relation to their employers, proved to be the sole source of care capital for these mothers, making reconciliation between work and care responsibilities possible. In the absence of formal or informal support, religion and the mother–child relationship seemed also to become a kind of care capital for these lone mothers, helping them to get by with their life‐long care responsibilities. For formal social and healthcare services, not just in Taiwan but in every country, it is important to develop support for lone mothers of adults with ID who have long‐term care responsibilities and low levels of care capital and thus face care poverty.

Underemployment among mothers of children with intellectual disabilities

“…This may suggest that such long-term support and available resources from both internal and external family systems are not really working for mothers who undertake lifelong caregiving. Such findings echo a previous Taiwanese study (Chou & Kröger 2014) that indicated that these mothers' care support was extremely limited during their life cycles of long-term caregiving.…”

Challenges of combining work and unpaid care, and solutions: A scoping review

“…In the reviewed publications, a significant difference between caring for a child with special needs and caring for an adult was the availability of adequate formal and informal help with care. Parents of children with special needs, especially mothers, appeared to find it more difficult to find suitable help and were often faced with stigma (Bourke‐Taylor et al, ; Brennan, Rosenzweig, Jivanjee, & Stewart, ; Bruns & Schrey, ; Chou & Kröger, ; Home, ). It is likely that cultural context influences the availability of support, particularly cultural assumptions regarding the role of a mother and family in general, the responsibilities of the state, and the visibility and acceptance of illness and disability in society.…”

Choosing to Work? Mothers Return-to-Work Decisions, Social Class, and the Local Labor Market

“…For the interviewees who were doing non-standard work, social capital in the form of social networks consisting of grandparents and other close relatives were essential. These informal care resources function as "informal care capital," a form of social capital that functions as a resource in reconciling work and (child)care (Chou & Kröger, 2014).…”