Parenthood in the Context of Integration (Parent)

How do immigrant parents experience parenthood when facing Norwegian norms, expectations, and welfare services? This project explores their experiences, resources, and needs – and how these can be better addressed to strengthen the integration of both parents and children.

The family plays a key role in integration. Parents can motivate their children to pursue education and provide support in everyday life, but they may also face challenges when children and adults adapt to Norway at a different pace. This can lead to intergenerational conflicts, for instance concerning leisure activities, gender roles, or choices of education and career.

Immigrant parents often need to balance their own values and traditions with Norwegian expectations of childrearing, while at the same time experiencing skepticism or misunderstanding from society and welfare services. Many also face living condition challenges, discrimination, and stigmatization, which can make parenting more demanding. At the same time, migration experiences, multicultural competence, and strong family ties can serve as important resources.

Nevertheless, little attention is directed towards immigrant parents and how their experiences shape the understanding and practice of parenthood. This project will examine the experiences, resources, needs, and challenges of parents with an immigrant background in an integration perspective, as well as how their particular resources and challenges are addressed within universal welfare services.

Based on this, Fafo will develop proposals for strategies and measures that can be implemented within the welfare state and civil society. The ambition is to strengthen the integration of immigrant parents and their children.