Children in multi-local post-separation families

Project Information

MobileKids

Grant agreement ID: 676868

DOI

10.3030/676868

Project closed

EC signature date 17 May 2016

Start date 1 September 2016

End date 31 August 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 499 312,00

EU contribution

€ 1 499 312,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MobileKids (Children in multi-local post-separation families)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2022-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This sociological research aimed to understand how shared physical custody (SPC), and the mobility and multilocality that result from this type of post-divorce family arrangement, affect children aged 10-16. More specifically, the objective was to understand how these (young) adolescents cope (or not) with this lifestyle marked by the alternation between two living places, to uncover the diversity of experiences lived by these children, and to identify their needs, based on their own accounts. This implied determining how, and in what circumstances, children appropriate this lifestyle and develop new ways of acting and being in the world, or "habitus" (Bourdieu, 1979, 1997) specific to multilocality, mobility and the experience of intermittent co-presence and absence.

This work is part of an emerging body of research that looks at SPC from the point of view and practices deployed by the children themselves, not so much to evaluate whether this care arrangement is 'good' or 'bad' for young people, but rather, to understand a lifestyle experienced daily by thousands of children in Europe and beyond.

By studying this lifestyle, MOBILEKIDS re-interprets both the foundations of the family as it has been constructed over the last two centuries, and the way in which the social sciences themselves study the family. It also opens new avenues for a theory of society in which virtual and geographical mobility is seen as integral to territorially based social relations, and where post-separation multi-local family relations are recognized and supported.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The MOBILEKIDS project was carried out in Belgium and Italy. SPC was contextualized in these two countries through an analysis of SPC in divorce, separation and childcare legislation and a comparative analysis of family policies.

The core of the project examined how children maintain their family relationships as they move with varying temporalities between two homes. Children were given a voice in this project, to understand how they maintain their family relationships, what role they play in the daily organization of their multilocational lives and negotiate the different aspects of this life with their parents and relatives, the strategies they put in place to control, resist and limit their mobility, the way in which children appropriate the spaces in which they live, what role communication technologies can play in this context,and the structural factors that constrain or facilitate the appropriation practices deployed by young people. The research also paid particular attention to children's family environments and the role played by family resources, cultures and practices in the children’s socialization to multilocality. The analysis took into consideration the social, cultural, and economic characteristics of children's families, the specific and sometimes heterogeneous cultures and practices that characterize them, and the tensions that may arise from this heterogeneity. It also included the spatial contexts in which the children's double households are located, such as the size and quality of housing, or accessibility in terms of transport and communication.

A key result is that children living in SPC develop a "multilocal habitus" (Merla et al., 2021) - or ways of being, doing and thinking - that helps them navigate their family relationships in this context marked by mobility, mulitlocality and intermittent co-presence. This concept highlights the capacity of children to adapt to this lifestyle, through the creation of routines and landmarks that allow them to anchor themselves in the space of each residence, while also making visible the difficulties that they face daily.

The results are disseminated in scientific publications and online reports (available on the project’s website), media releases, and workshops and conferences aimed at scientists, professionals, and stakeholders. To raise awareness on children's experience of SPC and multilocal lifestyles, MOBILEKIDS also generated an exhibition and a comic book aimed at children, schools, and practicionners.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MOBILEKIDS has brought together a range of fields of research (mobility, multilocality, children and youth studies, family studies, material studies…) and methodological and conceptual tools from sociology, social geography and political science to address its core questions. It contributed to produce, through the lens of children’s experiences and practices, an empirical and theoretical knowledge on the material and symbolic construction of families.

The Belgian study demonstrated the key role played by materiality and processes of territorial appropriation in the negotiation of children’s place in each family dwelling, and produced a new conceptual frame for the study of children’s sense of home, located at the cross-section between material, relational and personal dimensions. It also showed that children do not apprehend their two homes as completely separate and antagonistic but rather, as inter-related into a coherent whole, an archipelago composed of two parental islands. The Belgian study also produced a series of typologies that will guide further research and practicionners, including a typology of the frontiers that parents draw with their ex-partner’s dwelling, and with which children must navigate in their daily lives. The Italian study demonstrated the key role played by the school system in organizing children’s everyday practice of living in-between two homes. It also developed a conceptual frame for the study of the centrality of homework in organizing a practice of almost daily co-presence between the children and both of their parents. The Italian study also analyzed the impact of the residential market and the types of homes families live in pre and post-separation on the practice of relative short alternations of children from one home to the other (as frequent as every 2 to 3 days). Finally, it highlighted the gendered patterns that shape the practice of shared physical custody in Italy, which is still heavily marked by the “male-breadwinner/female caretaker” model even post-separation.

The contribution of this project is also methodological. Capturing children’s experiences relied on the development of a series of creative, flexible children-centered methodological tools (such as the Socio-spatial network game, emotion maps, the go-along method, and photo-elicitation), that were tailored to this project and combined in an original way. These methods will be of interest not only to scientists, but also to practitioners working with children and their relatives.

Logo of the project