CRISIS AS CATALYST? ROMANIAN MIGRANT CARE WORKERS IN ITALIAN HOME-BASED CARE ARRANGEMENTS

The COVID-19 crisis in Italy has brought to public attention the labour of almost one million migrant care workers (MCWs) who care for older Italian persons in their homes. Over the past three decades, the migrant-in-the-family model has become one of the main pillars of eldercare provision in Italy. The increase of this kind of care is analysed with a mixed-method approach, using official statistics, secondary literature, and expert interviews. The analysis integrates dynamics in the countries of origin and destination and focuses on Romanian MCWs as a case in point. The analysis highlights crises as catalysts for complex consequences and dynamics of transnational care migration, which play out at the levels of state, family, and individuals.