Raising Children amid Permanent Temporality: Experiences and Well-being Implications among Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Hong Kong

Aside from dealing with the trauma of sudden escape from risky conditions, asylum seekers and refugees (ASR) also face difficulties in adapting to new sociocultural environments. Such conditions are even more complicated when children are involved. However, empirical evidence of how ASR families support their children to adapt to new sociocultural environments is largely understudied, especially in atypical destinations such as Hong Kong, which mainly serves as a transitional place for ASR and offers low decommodification, consistent with its productivist welfare regime. Immigration arrangements also limit ASR’s participation in the labour market. This paper examines how ASR families perceive and support their children’s sociocultural adaptation to Hong Kong, the challenges involved and the influence on their psychological well-being. Data were derived through semi-structured interviews with 28 ASR adults in Hong Kong.



Many ASR parents considered their children’s adjustment as satisfactory despite many hindrances. They routinely took their children to parks, involved them in errands, and encouraged them to interact with others to help them adjust to Hong Kong. However, challenges such as perceived discrimination, language barriers, financial difficulties, and struggles in forming relationships with local Hong Kong people adversely affected the acculturation efforts for their children, which kept them worried about the prospects of their wards in the city. Others, however, were happy with their situation, considering the opportunities for their children to adapt to the local culture (e.g., learning the language). Interestingly, most ASR parents prioritised their native culture over Hong Kong’s by consistently keeping their children aware of their traditions through food, dressing, and music and connecting them with remanent family members in their home countries. Thus, programmes to support ASR in adapting to Hong Kong must be responsive to the expectations of their parents/guardians to enable them to support their children better.