Working with families from other cultures can expand clinical understanding and strengthen the capacity of practitioners to work with difference in more responsive ways.
In Australia, the three largest migrant communities are from the UK, India and China. In mid-2024 there were 700,120 Chinese born Australians living in Australia. A recent study in Family Process focused on the impacts of Chinese parents sending children, usually from age 6 months to 5 years back to their home country to be raised by grandparents or other family members and then returned to their biological parent. While there are no official statistics of the numbers of these ‘satellite babies’ the numbers may be increasing. This is due to increasing financial pressure on young families and a lack of childcare or extended family where both parents need to work. This is further exacerbated by a lack of access to childcare rebates for those on temporary visas. Importantly, this is a culture which values the parenting role of grandparents as conduits for transmission of cultural values which may only be available if a child is returned to China.
Exploring the Long-Term Effects of Reverse Migration
Authors Chiu et. al. (2026) recognised that this was also a phenomenon in America, yet there has been little research into its consequences for these children in adulthood. They were interested to explore this through an attachment lens using a qualitative study with a method of analysis which identifies key themes and places the voice of participants at the centre to understand their lived experience and attachment styles.
10 Chinese adults who were at least 18 who had been separated from biological parents before 6 years of age for at least 6 months and returned by the age of 10, were recruited. Semi structured interviews were held which were then transcribed and analysed for themes.
The Key Themes
The authors identified 4 key themes; ambiguous loss; fear in relationships then and now; “how I got through it”; and change is possible. Each participant identified the experience of ambiguous loss, defined as an event that has no clear closure which creates a difficult grieving process. Fear in past and current relationships including fear of abandonment and of getting too close was also identified by each person. Managing the separation and coping with the stress included ‘running away from feelings’ and ‘holding it in’, with half of these participants reporting a negative impact on their mental health through adoption of unhelpful strategies. Despite these more negative outcomes participants were also aware of the possibility of change with changes in parents, changes in self and healing delivered by relationships outside the family.
What are the implications for Clinical Practice?
Understanding that this experience is explainable by attachment theory and the theory of ambiguous loss allows practitioners to explore the consequences from a framework that includes the idea of grief and loss for all family members. Allowing both parents and children to understand each person’s experience can provide common ground and opportunity for new understanding and forgiveness from a position of strength rather than deficit.
An additional dimension that is not addressed in this paper is the language of therapy. Our first language is the one that carries affect which is at the heart of these experiences. At Bower Place we work in the client’s first language to explore and understand the grief, fear, confusion and hope – paving a pathway for transformation.
Chiu,V., White, M., D’Arrigo-Patrick, E., Banks, E.(2026) Unfinished Journeys: An IPA Study of the Lived Experiences of Adult Satellite Babies Family Process, 2026; 65:e70136 https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.70136
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