Depaire, Julien

Fathers in exile: commitment and obstacles - 2025.


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Migrant men who become fathers face a dual vulnerability, being subject both to the psychic reorganization of exile and to the challenges of paternal transition. Moreover, they have to reconcile the role of father assigned to them by their culture of origin with the role granted to them by the host society. Based on psychotherapeutic practices conducted within the Transcultural Consultation body at the University Hospital of Bordeaux, two clinical observations of fathers who were active and concerned about the arrival and care of their offspring are examined. The consultations were based on a complementarist methodology (Devereux, 1985) that articulates an individual level with a collective dimension. The authors explore the difficult context that currently prevails for exiled fathers engaged in active parenthood, the conditions of this psychic passage and the practices associated with it.