TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal Migration and Child Fostering Arrangements in Nairobi's Slums
AU - Cotton, Cassandra
AU - Oduor, Clement
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 The Authors.
PY - 2024/12/1
Y1 - 2024/12/1
N2 - Child fostering-children living apart from their biological mothers-is an established strategy to support children and families throughout Africa. Little is known about how fostering decisions might be influenced by maternal migration and place of residence when women move to urban slums, which are home to a sizable proportion of Africa's urban population. Using a mixed-methods approach, we triangulate in-depth interviews with birth histories collected in two slum settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore the interconnections between maternal migration experience, slum residence, and child fostering decisions. Our quantitative results reveal substantial fostering of children among women in slum contexts, with fostering being significantly higher among children of migrant women, particularly those who have recently arrived. Qualitative findings suggest that migration acts as an important impetus to foster, as do transitions in women's romantic relationships, economic uncertainty, poor slum conditions, and desires to send children to rural areas for schooling. This novel finding on children's schooling is supported in quantitative analyses, which show that older school-age children are more likely than younger children to be fostered. This study highlights the central roles of maternal migration, economic and social precariousness, and place of residence in determining the fostering of children among mothers living in informal settlements.
AB - Child fostering-children living apart from their biological mothers-is an established strategy to support children and families throughout Africa. Little is known about how fostering decisions might be influenced by maternal migration and place of residence when women move to urban slums, which are home to a sizable proportion of Africa's urban population. Using a mixed-methods approach, we triangulate in-depth interviews with birth histories collected in two slum settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore the interconnections between maternal migration experience, slum residence, and child fostering decisions. Our quantitative results reveal substantial fostering of children among women in slum contexts, with fostering being significantly higher among children of migrant women, particularly those who have recently arrived. Qualitative findings suggest that migration acts as an important impetus to foster, as do transitions in women's romantic relationships, economic uncertainty, poor slum conditions, and desires to send children to rural areas for schooling. This novel finding on children's schooling is supported in quantitative analyses, which show that older school-age children are more likely than younger children to be fostered. This study highlights the central roles of maternal migration, economic and social precariousness, and place of residence in determining the fostering of children among mothers living in informal settlements.
KW - Child fostering
KW - Kenya
KW - Migration
KW - Motherhood
KW - Slums
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85213596909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1215/00703370-11680713
DO - 10.1215/00703370-11680713
M3 - Article
C2 - 39625227
AN - SCOPUS:85213596909
SN - 0070-3370
VL - 61
SP - 1975
EP - 1998
JO - Demography
JF - Demography
IS - 6
ER -