Migrant mothers’ bounded agency in taking care of their left-behind children: implications for supporting migrant mothers in social work services

This article studies how Chinese rural-to-urban migrant mothers exercise ‘bounded agency’ in taking care of their left-behind children. It is based on a thematic analysis of 15 remote narrative interviews with migrant mothers in China. The analysis identified three main sociocultural constraints faced by migrant mothers in their mothering practices: economic poverty, residential restrictions (the hukou system) and the traditional ideology of motherhood. The interviewed mothers made considerable efforts to fulfil their maternal responsibilities by creating four forms of distance mothering practices: (1) arranging substitute mothering, (2) digital mothering, (3) holiday mothering and (4) financial mothering. The study therefore recommends that social workers pay attention to mothers’ childcare work and design appropriate services for migrant mothers and their families.