Title: Navigating precarity : hope, agency and life experiences of female ethnic care leavers in Chiang Rai, Thailand
Author: Su Mei Michelle Png
Year: 2025
Keywords: Institutional care, Non-citizenship, Precarity, Youth agency, Hope
Themes: Migration, social welfare
Advisor(s): Jiraporn Laocharoenwong
The full thesis available here.
Abstract: More than half of privately run alternative care settings are located in northern Thailand. In Chiang Rai, historical migration from Myanmar has contributed to a significant presence of ethnic communities and migrant families who often place their children in institutional care to access education and basic living support. Children typically reside in centres from ages 6 to 18 and may possess Thai citizenship or non-citizen identification. While some stay briefly, the transition out of care upon completing high school is marked by constraints and insecurity related to independence, finances, non-citizenship and adjusting aspirations. Using the lens of precarity, agency and hope, this qualitative study examines the experiences of ten Akha women aged 19-29 who have left care and how they navigated precarity in their lives. Drawing on semi-structured and life history interviews, participant observation, and solicited diaries, this research reveals that precarity is not merely a post-care challenge ; for those with migration backgrounds, it is an ordinary condition experienced from early childhood. Daily independent life is shaped by complex factors, including unsafe work conditions, existential disconnectedness from social relationships, non-citizenship barriers and fragile aspirations. While the nature of precarity differs between Thai citizens and non-citizens, it is consistently framed by systemic structures and the transition out of care. This thesis argues that precarity is normalised in their lives structurally enforced by the conditions of leaving care, migrant descent, limited family support and non-citizenship status. Crucially, while their agency operates as a vital, compelled response to these structural limits, it is their hope that actively motivates them to negotiate for more secure life conditions.