Satellite babies (also called Satellite children) refer to immigrants’ children who are temporarily sent back to their home country by their parents to be reared by extended family. Typically, the satellite babies are born in the host country and sent back as infants, returning to their parents in time to start schooling or when their parents have established financial stability. Research and media articles on satellite babies have predominantly focused on the topic from a Chinese-American context. Satellite babies have become more prevalent in recent decades due to globalisation, prompting researchers and social workers to raise concerns about the psychological impacts of repeated attachment disruptions and acculturation associated with satellite babies.
Definition
Satellite babies is a term coined in the 2009 research paper Satellite Babies in Transnational Families: A Study of Parents’ Decision to Separate from their Infants. In the paper, the researchers focus on the children of Chinese immigrants in North America. However, the practice also occurs in immigrant households of South Asian, African, and Caribbean origin and occurs in many Western countries, such as Australia. Despite this diversity, research on satellite babies has mainly been conducted on ethnically Chinese children in North America.
Satellite babies should not be confused with parachute kids, which refer to elementary or secondary international students living alone in a foreign country whilst their parents remain in their home country. Furthermore, while satellite babies are quite similar to left-behind children, researchers argue that the two groups are sufficiently different as satellite babies suffer more attachment disruptions, are separated across a vaster geographical distance, and need to adjust to a different culture and language upon reunification.
History
Many societies, including Chinese society, have traditionally endorsed kinship care. In particular, the practice of grandchildren being cared for by grandparents while the parents migrate for work has become widespread within China due to rural-urban migration. As increasing numbers of Chinese people immigrate to Western countries, many choose to continue this practice transnationally.
According to a New York Times article from 1999, 10 to 20 percent of mothers at the New York Chinatown Health Center sent their children back to China, and up to half of all expectant mothers at a nearby clinic stated their intention to do the same. A 2009 study surveying pregnant and postpartum women at prenatal care workshops at a community health centre in New York's Chinatown revealed that 57 percent of respondents intend to send newborns back to China, with 74 percent stating they plan to bring their children back after four years. In 2019, the director of the Chinese-American Planning Council stated that 70 percent of Asian-American children in its school-age childcare program were satellite babies.
Factors influencing parent decision-making
Economic factors
Surveys of Chinese immigrant mothers in Canada and The United States of America revealed that economic necessity was the predominant factor influencing their decision to send their children back to China. The participants stated that they require time to focus on retraining or developing their careers, and considered their infant children as obstacles to those goals. Furthermore, participants also stated they could not afford to work whilst keeping their children with them due to the prohibitive cost of child-care services in North America. The importance of financial stability in parents' decision-making is also demonstrated by the timing of when children rejoin the parental household; children tend to return after parents have bought houses, found stable higher paying jobs, or after moving to an area with good schools, which are believed to be indicators of economic success. However, despite economic necessity being the predominant factor, the practice is also prevalent in middle-class, highly educated Chinese immigrant households.