Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how maternal international migration shapes the nutritional well-being of left-behind children in two high-migration villages in Malang Regency, Indonesia. While remittances improve household purchasing power, maternal absence reconfigures care relations, dietary practices and the broader ecology of childcare in rural migrant-sending contexts. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an interpretive qualitative design informed by transnational motherhood, care chain theory and social reproduction frameworks. Fieldwork involved 29 semi-structured interviews, 3 focus group discussions and participant observation in households, Posyandu health posts and schools. Participants included fathers, grandmothers, older siblings, village officials, Posyandu cadres and local health workers. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo with triangulation of sources. Findings First, remittances increase economic access to food but do not translate into improved dietary diversity because of limited nutritional literacy and reliance on convenient processed foods. Second, caregiving becomes gendered and intergenerational, with grandmothers assuming primary responsibilities, while fathers remain peripheral. Third, community institutions, particularly Posyandu and peer learning groups, partially mitigate care deficits but operate within constrained capacities. Fourth, fragmented governance between migration agencies and health sectors, combined with unhealthy rural food environments, reinforces nutritional vulnerabilities. Originality/value This paper offers a fresh perspective by integrating gender, migration, nutrition and community governance within a unified transnational care framework. This study highlights how structural, cultural and market forces shape child nutrition in migrant households and calls for multisectoral policy alignment to address the needs of left-behind children.
Rosalinda et al. (Thu,) studied this question.