‘They Told Us in a Curry Shop’: Child–Adult Relations in the Context of Family Migration Decision-Making

Abstract

Abstract This article draws upon a small-scale ethnographic study of children entering Australia with their parents under the Australian Government's skilled migration scheme. It illustrates how tacit conceptions of childhood underpin the way in which children's 'best interests' are understood in parental decision-making. In addition, the article highlights the ways in which different configurations of child–adult relations result in children's active participation in or, conversely, exclusion from, the decision-making process, and identifies ways in which children assert their opinions and actively seek to influence this process. Keywords: Child–Adult RelationsFamily Migration Decision-MakingChildren's Best Interests