Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to explore how caregiving arrangements among parents of the recent East European labour migrants in Sweden develop in a transnational setting. Using the theoretical model of situated transnational caregiving arrangements and the analytical principles and concepts of the life course perspective, we analyse caregiving arrangements during three stages of the transnational parenting trajectory: decisions to migrate, caring at a distance and decisions to reunite. The research draws on qualitative interviews with migrant parents engaged in caring arrangements situated between Poland and Romania’s weak neoliberalist welfare states and conditional inclusion into Sweden’s universalist welfare state. The results show that decisions to migrate can be seen as turning points leading to a long-lasting transition in care relationships. Caring at a distance involves ongoing negotiations within intergenerational networks. The agencies of both parents and children are crucial, where children’s age and the quality of relationships are central.