ABSTRACT
The focus of the chapter is on intentions – the most agentic aspect of the ethnomorality of care concept. Beyond a simple contradiction between the normative obligations and the actual support provided to elderly parents, there often is a complicated mismatch between individuals’ beliefs concerning elderly care in general, their personal intentions and the actual care arrangements concerning aging relatives. Sometimes care intentions are aligned with care beliefs. In most of the cases, participants offered elaborate explanations for not intending to follow the moral ideals of hands-on family care. The intentions have been analyzed as they emerged from the interviews, together with a catalogue of arguments put forward in situations where migrants lacked the intention to heed what most of the actors believe to be morally right, that is, the familial elderly care model. These arguments include local siblings (i.e., stayers) as default caregivers, the moral equation of care, resentment, appeals to migrants’ well-being, appeals to parents’ well-being and an appeal to the good quality of institutional care.
