Childcare is a need that inevitably emerges once migrants establish themselves and their families in their destination country. However, migrants' use of informal childcare still constitutes an under-researched phenomenon. Using data from the ‘Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens’ survey (2011–2012) for Italy and the ‘Trajectoires et Origines’ survey (2008–2009) for France, this paper examines differences between migrants living in the two countries in terms of their use of informal childcare and, more specifically, their informal childcare arrangements. We employ a comparative analysis because we hypothesised that parental choices would depend on the migrants' region of origin, the institutional context of their destination country and the interplay between these two elements. The results suggest that migrants' choices stem from a complex relationship between the norms and beliefs of the country of origin and those in the destination country, which are generally characterised by different family policies and levels of childcare availability. We show that the use of informal childcare is higher among migrants in Italy than it is among those in France, even among migrants from the same region of origin. The results also suggest that the use of particular informal childcare arrangements varies by region of origin regardless of destination country, supporting the hypothesis that migrants' cultural values and beliefs play a critical role in determining childcare arrangements. Finally, we demonstrate that household composition and parents' occupational status strongly influence migrants' childcare choices.

中文翻译：

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意大利和法国移民对非正式儿童保育的选择：原籍国和目的地国之间的复杂关系

一旦移民及其家人在目的地国安顿下来，儿童保育就不可避免地出现了。然而，流动人口使用非正规儿童保育仍然是一个尚未得到充分研究的现象。本文利用意大利“外国公民的社会状况和融入”调查（2011-2012 年）和法国“轨迹与起源”调查（2008-2009 年）的数据，探讨了居住在两国的移民在以下方面的差异：他们使用非正式儿童保育的情况，更具体地说，他们的非正式儿童保育安排的情况。我们采用比较分析，因为我们假设父母的选择将取决于移民的原籍地区、目的地国的制度背景以及这两个因素之间的相互作用。结果表明，移民的选择源于原籍国和目的地国的规范和信仰之间的复杂关系，其一般特点是不同的家庭政策和儿童保育服务水平。我们发现，意大利移民使用非正式托儿服务的比例高于法国，甚至来自同一原籍地区的移民也是如此。结果还表明，无论目的地国家如何，特定非正式儿童保育安排的使用都会因原籍地区而异，这支持了移民的文化价值观和信仰在决定儿童保育安排方面发挥关键作用的假设。最后，我们证明家庭构成和父母的职业地位强烈影响流动人口的儿童保育选择。