Siblings and Exile: Relational Flexibility and Care Perspectives

Relationships between siblings are determined by how the family is organized and operates, and its history. In migration, additional factors come into play. Such relationships are closely linked to the exchanges between parents and children and to the stage in the life of the family when a new child is born. Migration also upsets the balance between the different members’ positions within the family and the roles of the children; what is going to become of them in a new system? How will they adjust as the family fights to survive?Research conducted within families of foreign origins reveals that siblings organize around their sense of exile from their countries of origin in relation to their nationalities and original cultures on the one hand and their degree of acceptance in the new country on the other. The clinical examples provided are used to grasp these subtle arrangements within sibling groups and seek out prospects for care.