Ownership and Gatekeeping vs. Safeguarding and Consent: How Migrant Parents Navigate Child Data Management Complexities

Parents pursuing opportunities abroad increasingly find themselves raising children in new cultural and legal environments. This responsibility extends to complying with unfamiliar regulations and safeguarding their children's data which is often complex and a challenging task. In this study, we examine how migrant parents perceive, manage, and safeguard data related to their children. Through interviews with 17 migrant parents and guardians in the UK, we uncover nuanced and evolving perspectives on data ownership and management. Migrant parents express significant concerns about losing control over data shared locally and with extended families abroad, with fears of misuse that could harm their children or jeopardize their immigration status. We discuss their data management strategies and approaches to navigating changing concepts of data ownership and consent. Our findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive support to help migrant families safeguard their children's data and highlight directions for future research into the complexities of cross-border data sharing and its implications.