What Do Migrants Know About Their Childcare Rights? A First Exploration in West Germany

Verena Seibel

doi:10.1007/s12134-020-00791-0

Abstract

Although an increasing number of studies emphasise migrants’ lack of knowledge about their childcare rights as a crucial barrier to their childcare usage, almost none examines the conditions under which migrant families acquire this knowledge. This study contributes to the literature by exploring potential individual factors determining migrant families’ knowledge about their childcare rights in Germany. I use unique data collected through the project Migrants’ Welfare State Attitudes (MIFARE), in which nine different migrant groups in Germany were surveyed about their relation to the welfare state, including childcare. Analysing a total sample of 623 migrants living with children in their household and by using logistic regression analyses, I find that human and social capital play significant roles in explaining migrants’ knowledge about their childcare rights. Migrants who speak the host language sufficiently are more likely to know about their childcare rights; however, it does not matter whether migrants are lower or higher educated. Moreover, I observe that migrants benefit from their co-ethnic relations only if childcare usage is high among their ethnic group. Based on these results, policy recommendations are discussed in order to increase migrants’ knowledge about their childcare rights in Germany.

Highlights

Formal childcare provided by the government or private institutions is a central pillar of the European Union’s (EU) ‘social investment strategy’ and has been championed by the EU, national and local governments across Europe as an inclusive way to promote Seibel V.growth and reduce inequality
I assume that migrants draw on two main resources in order to access knowledge about their childcare rights: human capital and social capital
Whereas among Russian migrants over 83% do know that their ethnic group is eligible to access formal childcare immediately after registering as resident in Germany, this is the case for only 54% of migrants from China

Summary

Introduction

Formal childcare provided by the government or private institutions is a central pillar of the European Union’s (EU) ‘social investment strategy’ and has been championed by the EU, national and local governments across Europe as an inclusive way to promote Seibel V.growth and reduce inequality. Migrants do not make use of formal childcare due to lack of knowledge, policy makers should act for two reasons. Non-participation in the labour market adds to the double disadvantage migrant women already experience in receiving countries (Ballarino and Panichella 2018; Boeckmann et al 2014). Formal childcare facilitates the integration chances of the weakest in society, namely migrant women and children. In spite of the alarming consequences of such lack of knowledge for migrants’ integration chances, there is a good side to the story from a policy perspective: while it is proving difficult and ethically debatable to influence people’s family values, disinformation can be tackled if reasons are known. It is crucial to explore the reasons for such lack of knowledge if governments and local decision makers aim to guarantee equal chances of early childhood education for migrants and their children

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Results

Conclusion