Filling the Gaps: NGOs Address the Precarious Legal Status of Migrant Children in Korea and Taiwan

• In Event: Conflict and Belonging Across Borders

Abstract

This paper examines how NGO workers address the precarious legal status of migrant children within two racially homogeneous East Asian countries: South Korea and Taiwan. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews, we analyze two NGO settings: a childcare center serving infants and preschool-aged children of Southeast Asian guest workers in Taiwan, and an after-school center supporting Black African immigrant youth in South Korea. Despite their disparate regional and demographic circumstances, these places demonstrate similar patterns of everyday exclusion founded in evident ethnic distinctions. In Taiwan, caregivers adopt a temporary framework that dismisses children’s cultural and religious needs. In South Korea, schools use colorblind methods that put social integration into society first. These stories illustrate how care practices of NGO workers may maintain exclusions or shape racial identity, enriching discussions on immigrant youth and ethnicity in non-Western contexts.

Authors

• Jiwon Choi, University at Albany, SUNY

• Pei-Chen Cheng, University at Albany, SUNY