The concept of a child within sub‐Saharan African migrant homes: Reconciling culture and child rights

Abstract

As international migration increases, the Australian socio-cultural and political context in which sub-Saharan African migrant families are settling is causing tension between traditional sub-Saharan African migrant definitions of child and childhood experiences and host nation definitions particularly when compared with the child protection system. This paper seeks to explore and highlight the fundamental values and differences that determine perceptions and treatment of children within traditional sub-Saharan African communities. Using a qualitative design, this study was influenced by acculturation theory. Four major themes emerged from the analysis: (a) culture and the sub-Saharan African child, (b) moulding good children, (c) family functioning and relationships, and (d) host context: perceptions of Australian mainstream parenting. The study found that in order to successfully make decisions that are in the best interest of sub-Saharan African migrant children that come to the attention of the child protection system, discussions about children rights can only yield good outcomes when the child's socio-cultural environment is considered.

Parenting Black children in White spaces: Skilled African migrants reflect on their parenting experiences in Australia

“…To date, young people of colour, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, remain significantly overrepresented in the Australian out‐of‐home welfare system and juvenile justice system (Gatwiri, Parmenter, Cameron, & Rotumah, 2019). Mugadza, Stout, Akombi, Williams Tetteh and Renzaho (2019) state that in the Australian context, dominant Eurocentric ideologies and definitions of childhood and ‘best interest of the child’ discourses can be useful in furthering child safety; yet, they may sometimes ‘overshadow how cultural beliefs, practices, and tradition affect children’ as well as inferiorize parenting styles from non‐White communities (p. 520). When Black parents strive to protect their children from unfair racial targeting, profiling and discrimination, it may involve strategies of control that are viewed as inappropriate from a Eurocentric perspective.…”

“…To date, young people of colour, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, remain significantly overrepresented in the Australian out-ofhome welfare system and juvenile justice system (Gatwiri, Parmenter, Cameron, & Rotumah, 2019). Mugadza, Stout, Akombi, Williams Tetteh and Renzaho (2019) The first question aimed to interrogate race dynamics, and the second question explored cultural factors influencing parenting approaches.…”

Parental emotionality and power relations in heritage language maintenance: experiences of Chinese and African immigrant families in Australia

“…The remaining languages mainly function as important vehicles of affect and parental emotionality and hold grounds for the creation, perpetuation, and maintenance of traditional artifacts, arts, and history, which end up forming the bedrock of information for most scholarly studies (Obanya, 1999 ). These languages also form the basis of African parental influences and child socialization practices in the Australian migration context (Ndhlovu, 2014 ; Mugadza et al, 2019 ; Akosah-Twumasi et al, 2020 ) where they tend to be mostly invisible in public domains. Thus, the study of family language policy should recognize the relevance and influence of visible and less visible political, social, educational, and economic forces in a given society (Curdt-Christiansen, 2013 ).…”

Applying Universal Principles of ‘Best Interest’: Practice Challenges across Transnational Jurisdictions, Cultural Norms, and Values

“…Childcare approaches and parenting themselves can be seen to be based on different understandings of the structure, roles, and responsibilities of families and children in different countries [ 48 , 49 , 52 , 53 ]. Child protection work itself is partly, if not mostly, determined by societal views regarding what constitutes good childcare and child abuse [ 54 , 55 ], thus affecting the culture and norms regarding the definitions and operationalisation of ideas about childhood and the treatment of children [ 56 ].…”