Transnational Aging, Care and the Welfare State

Abstract

This article discusses the role of the Swedish welfare state in transnational migration contexts involving older people in need of care. A pilot study about experiences and perspectives among care managers in the public elderly care sector forms the empirical point of departure, with focus on late-in-life-immigrants. The article shows concrete examples of how care needs may be met through a combination of public elderly care, support from informal networks, and the travelling of older people back and forth across national borders. Care managers may have a comprehensive but tacit knowledge of the transnational mobility of this category of older care users. Their awareness of their own role in the transnational contexts remains quite limited. Late-in-life immigrants to Sweden who are involved in transmigration processes are dependent on the care managers" professional autonomy and ability to take advantage of the scope of legislation for individual assessments and special solutions.

Between Care and Contract: Aging Muslim Immigrants, Self-appointed Helpers and Ambiguous Belonging in the Danish Welfare State

“…Other studies have discussed care as an aspect of intergenerational obligations in transnational family networks (Baldassar 2014;Coe 2011) or have critically observed that women from 'the global south' are filling in the care deficit of 'the global north' (Hochchild 1995), e.g., in the guise of domestic workers (Coe 2017), nurses (Olwig 2015) or au pairs (Dalgas and Olwig 2015). When care and the state are discussed in relation to the family, it is often in the context of more or less creative state-based arrangements where care is sub-contracted to family members (Forssell 2013;Lan 2002;Thelen, Thiemann, and Roth 2014) or from the perspective of the older adults themselves (Ludvigsen 2016;Mikkelsen 2017). However, it is important to pay more attention to how care practices and state regulations intersect and shape each other.…”

“…People over the age of 65 who legally reside in Denmark, temporarily or permanently, and are in need of help and support in daily life can apply for assistance (Europa-Kommisionen 2018). Thus, like other Nordic countries (Forssell 2013), the overall responsibility of caring for older citizens rests with the state and not the family. Citizens have the choice between municipal homecare, care provided by a private supplier financed by the state, or appointing a family member or friend as a personal helper, the selfappointed helper arrangement.…”

Care managers' experiences of cross-cultural needs assessment meetings: the case of late-in-life immigrants

“…An interesting pilot study was conducted by Forssell (2013) who explored how care managers experience cases involving late-in-life immigrants with transnational ties. She found that these older people's lifestyles and care arrangements can prompt care managers not only to change their practices but also to exploit the grey areas of the framework regulations mentioned earlier.…”

Spotting good ageing: using welfare theory of health to frame the agency of older adults with immigrant backgrounds to attain good ageing

“…Arranging care for older adults with immigrant backgrounds has been described as a struggle to uphold a suitable level of care adapted to the transnational context of immigrants (Forssell 2013). Forssell, Torres, and Olaison (2014) explore the complexity of a social justice paradox with the prevalence of cash transfers made to family care providers to late-in-life-immigrants coming from 'cultures perceived as distant'.…”