Family decision making and transnational migration: Recent Polish migrants in London Louise Ryan, Rosemary Sales, Mary Tilki and Bernadetta Siara (Middlesex University). This study is funded by the ESRC

Background Before EU enlargement in May 2004, migration from Poland (much of it undocumented) tended to be perceived as short term, transient and individual. Migrants were depicted as having either no dependents or as leaving dependent family members ‘back home’. Our research examines if, and how, migratory strategies change post-EU Accession. What are the roles of social and family networks?

Methods 11 Key informants interviews: People from community organisations, other voluntary agencies and the Polish Church. Four Focus groups – Polish Saturday School, Mother and Toddler group, young people and a student group. Individual interviews – 30 interviews men and women of varied ages and occupations.

Family migration How do family considerations influence migratory decision making? How do Polish migrants negotiate family responsibilities ‘here’ and ‘there’? We are interested in the family not just in terms of the traditional conjugal unit, but also in the broadest sense – including a wide range of relations.

Priest discussing family reunification ‘I observe... many Poles, who have been working here for few years, who have financial stability, for example builders,…. they are currently dragging their wives and children… one can see that these women have arrived recently, a year ago, few months ago. …. this financial stability leads them to buy houses on 25-year mortgage’

Family decision making Saturday School focus group: several women described how they had joined their husbands in London. In most cases this was a planned strategy. The husbands came first and wives and children followed. As one woman told us: ‘it was planned with deliberation – 3 months… this was the period needed for finding accommodation, work’.

Family strategies However, plans also changed. One woman told us that her husband was not meant to stay in London but ‘the plan has changed completely’, he decided to stay and despite her own ‘reservations’ about London, she followed him here with their children. Another woman decided to join her husband after he had been here for two years. He did not encourage her to come but she worried that ‘our marriage will split’:

Women as lead migrants: A 48 year old woman who works as a nanny facilitated the migration of her two daughters – both are now working in London. Her two sons and her husband have remained behind in Poland. ‘we didn’t sit at one table for 2.5 years, with the whole family’. ‘half of my heart here, half there, it is terrible, it is simply terrible and it seems to me that I experience it worse and worse’.

transnational families This woman still plays a role in mothering her sons in Poland through regular phone contact not only with the boys and their father but also with their teachers and neighbours. However, she admits that the boys often resent her ‘interfering’ from a distance.

Transnational caring a 50 year old grandmother came to London in 2003 to help her daughter with childcare. She was concerned about her 80 year old mother, who was recently widowed in Poland, and her sister who had just be diagnosed with cancer. She is torn between her family in London and her desire to return to Poland to care for her mother and sister.

Escaping from ‘family’ Not all migrants told their stories in terms of reuniting ‘the family’. One professional woman described her migration as an escape from an unhappy family situation in Poland. Following the break up of her marriage she moved to Britain and later brought her two young children to join her.

Younger migrants We also interviewed several single, young migrants in their early twenties. They are at a different stage in their life cycle. While these migrants did not have children, they were often involved in family networks in different ways. Several had brothers and sisters, as well as partners, who also lived in London and who were very important to their migration strategies.

Conclusion Our research complicates the perception of Polish migrants as individual economic actors. We have attempted to show the varied roles that families may play in migrants’ strategies and long term plans. Both younger and older migrants may be implicated in complex webs of family relationships ‘here’ and ‘there’.