Assessing Adequate Homes and Proper Parenthood: How Gendered and Racialized Family Norms Legitimize the Deportation of Unaccompanied Minors in Belgium and the Netherlands

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes the ways in which the Belgian and Dutch governments legitimize the deportation of unaccompanied minors, by focusing on the interplay of intersectional boundary work and bordering practices. Building on the work of postcolonial feminists and scholars studying the role of identity and cultural values in migration policy, the article highlights that deportation relies on and reifies gendered, racialized, and classed representations of the family, child-rearing practices, and the roles attributed to children. A paternalistic attitude that spurs the moral necessity to protect children mediates the exclusionary potential of such boundaries for deporting states.