In an upcoming seminar at Radboud University, I will explore how migrant families negotiate care arrangements across borders, focusing on transnational care arrangements and the role of self-directed support (PGB).
Care is often imagined as something that takes place locally—within a home, a neighbourhood, or a national welfare system. Yet for many migrants from Türkiye living in the Netherlands, care is not confined to a single place. It unfolds across borders, shaped by mobility, distance, and shifting responsibilities.
What happens, for instance, when older people move between countries? Or when they remain in one country while their children coordinate care from another?
These questions become particularly relevant in the context of the persoonsgebonden budget (PGB). This form of self-directed support enables older people to maintain ageing-in-place and allows families to organise care in ways that align with their everyday lives, while also requiring them to negotiate responsibilities within and across borders.
These arrangements highlight how care is continuously negotiated between institutions, families, and social norms. The seminar will reflect on how such arrangements are shaped by—and, in turn, challenge—existing frameworks of care. It will touch upon tensions between regulation and lived practice, between formal rights and informal obligations, and across the boundaries of the welfare state.
At the same time, generational shifts raise further questions. While first-generation migrants often emphasise family-based care, younger generations increasingly express a desire not to become a “burden” on their own children, suggesting possible changes in future care preferences.
By bringing these dynamics together, the seminar invites a broader discussion on how care is organised in contexts where lives—and responsibilities—span multiple locations. It also speaks to ongoing debates within Glocal on how global connections reshape local institutions and practices.
Colleagues working on migration, care, and the sociology of ageing are warmly invited to join the discussion and contribute their perspectives.
Dr. Ferhan S. Palaz (Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Science, Department of Gerontology) will be visiting Radboud University as a guest scholar from 15 June until 19 June 2026. In a seminar on 18 June, she will talk more in-depth about her research. Are you interested in collaborating or just having a talk when she is visiting? You can reach her through her email ferhanpalaz@gmail.com.