‘Policy makers should re-examine ramification of emigration patterns’

by Nelson A. King in New York 13.JUL.07

Stating that female-dominated migration has had negative effects on Caribbean family life at home and in the Diaspora, a New York-based Vincentian historian has called on regional governments and policy makers to re-examine the ramification of current emigration patterns.{{more}}

Dr. Joyce Toney, a history professor at Hunter College at the City University of New York, told a recent symposium at Brooklyn Borough Hall, downtown Brooklyn, marking Caribbean American Heritage Month, that while there have been great successes from female migration, in particular, there have, simultaneously, been “devastating” effects.

“Some of these areas call for serious consideration from scholars and policy makers,” the Troumaca, North Leeward, native told delegates at the event, organized by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Speaking on the topic, “The Caribbean and the Feminization of Emigration: Effects and Repercussions,” Professor Toney said children left behind, when their parents migrate, are often “damaged psychologically” by the separation.

“They show problems connected to grief, loss and attachment,” she said, adding that parents, too, demonstrate signs of sadness, guilt and anxiety.

“Advocates of the so-called attachment theory believe that there could be future difficulties with adjustment,” added the president of the Brooklyn-based Girls’ High School Alumnae, Inc.

She said families at the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder are even more likely to suffer negative consequences of parental migration.

Toney, the wife of former UN Ambassador, Joel Toney, said while middle class parents may send for their children a year or two after migration, children of the poor are often unable to do so.

She said, even when the family is re-united, the “cute child” that the parents left behind has turned into a teenager,” who often “does not see the parents as the authority figures that they would like to be.”

“These children have come to regard their surrogate parents as the adults whom they love and respect,” she said, noting that the newly-arrived youngster may also have to contend with step parents, new siblings, a new language, and problems with accent and race.

“All of these stressful conditions encountered at the same time can create or aggravate family problems,” Toney said.

In addition, she said some mothers are caught in an “even worse immigration dilemma” on hearing about abuse or neglect of their children by surrogate parents.

“They must decide whether they should return to the poverty and deprivation that drove them away in the first place or return to their suffering children,” she said.

“This situation lends to an enhancement of the already present barrel-children situation, where parents shower the children with material goods as compensation for their absence,” she added.

Toney referred to a recent United Nations Children Educational Fund (UNICEF) report that recognizes the “value of remittances to children,” but points out “harmful effects,” such as disintegration of the family, and the loss of “most important role models, nurturers and caregivers.”

“This has a significant psychological impact that can translate into feelings of abandonment, vulnerability, and loss of self-esteem, among others,” it says.

Toney said while West Indian families have put in place a “long legacy of child-minding by extended family members and others,” there are “obvious negative ramifications even for West Indian parents.”

“In today’s globalized world, children are introduced to other views of ‘normal,’” she said.

“The notion of the family is perceived as the West Indian nuclear family, with, at least, a mother in it,” she added.

“Sending and receiving societies should be aware of the potentially harmful situation that can arise when children cannot join their migrating parents,” she warned.