INTERGENERATIONAL FINANCIAL TRANSFERS: FILIPINO MIGRANTS CARING FOR PARENTS OVERSEAS

Abstract Recent estimates are that migrants send approximately US$300 billion in financial remittances from developed to developing countries annually and that such money is important at the micro and macro levels in relieving family poverty. As a migrant-receiving country with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population, Australia has many migrants from developing countries who are part of this phenomenon. Little is known, however, about the purposes for which migrants send money home, the role it plays in intergenerational care and the perceptions of the impact of these payments on the recipients and on their own families in Australia. This study has a specific focus. It is interested in understanding the financial support provided to aged relatives in developing countries from Australian citizens. The term intergenerational financial transfers (IFTs) is used to distinguish money sent overseas by migrant adult children to parents or older relatives from general remittances. In Australian government accounting systems, remittances, or money sent to the home country by migrants, is collected as aggregate data, and it is therefore not possible to obtain a statistical understanding of how much money is being sent for specific purposes. This thesis explores the practice of making IFTs within one group of Australian citizens - Filipino migrants. Filipinos are one of the more numerous recent groups migrating to Australia from within its own geographic region, are known to send IFTs home, and are known to have good English skills that will facilitate research participation. The exploratory study uses in-depth interviews with a purposive, cross-sectional sample of 20 permanent Filipino migrants (10 female and 10 male). The interviews explore participants’ current practices of sending money home to older relatives, the influences and motivation to send money over the life cycle, and the perceptions of the impacts of the practice on themselves and recipients. A thematic analysis of the transcribed data shows that sending money home is not only a migrant activity, since more than half the participants sent money home to parents before migrating to Australia. It also shows that this sample did not migrate to Australia primarily to make remittances, but for some, migration made it possible to do so. Cultural factors were the main motivation for making IFTs, followed by socio-economic circumstances of parents, and family values. No participant would consider abandoning their commitment and those who experienced difficulty in making IFTs over the life cycle were prepared to sell items or take out loans to continue their practice. The data analysis also showed that as well as females sending on average $500 per annum and males $1,000 per annum as cash or cheques through agents or banks, participants also purchased other one-off items, and sent substantial amounts of money for various emergency situations. Participants provided other forms of caregiving including practical care, gave ongoing psychological and emotional support, and sent large packages of goods home, thereby assisting parents with a wider variety of personal caregiving. On occasion participants co-operated with their siblings to provide a wider framework of family caregiving for their parents. IFTs are an important component of support for older people in many developing countries, and are made without expectation of financial return. The data showed that the practice of making IFTs was problematic for some participants at different stages of the life cycle. Because of the strong cultural values and obligations underpinning the practice, participants sometimes felt pressure to make IFTs from potential savings when, for example, school-age family expenses were high and had to be met; some women in their intercultural marriages who were unable to meet IFTs from their own earnings as their preferred option had to negotiate IFTs from household income. The thesis builds knowledge in the area of intergenerational financial transfers, transnational families and transnational caregiving for older people. It also adds depth to the understanding of the caregiving responsibilities and commitments to older people of some Australian citizens. This research adds an understanding of the practice of one group of migrants who send money home to ageing parents in the 21st century. It provides insight into current processes and practices and points to areas of policy where migrant Australian citizens might receive greater recognition for observing cultural obligations to care for parents and older relatives