Children Hidden in Corners
The children of undocumented migrant workers usually live in isolation with their parents in Taiwan.
When the migrant worker mothers are pregnant, they are in lack of prenatal checkups, due to concerns about identity exposure and finance, which results in pregnant women unable to grasp the risk of delivery and the health conditions of their babies. After the children are born, only a rarity of them receive regular health checkup, regular vaccination and development assessment, which leads to missing the prime time for early intervention.
Although the government provides resources such as regular vaccinations for children to undocumented parents, due to concerns of identity exposure, very few of them receive regular vaccinations, except for some children referred by other institutions. Under COVID-19 pandemic, due to fear, even fewer of them are willing to have their babies be vaccinated.
R is an undocumented migrant worker who had broken up with her boyfriend peacefully, but later found out she was pregnant. During her pregnancy, R wore loose clothes and cut down on holiday gatherings to prevent friends from knowing that she was pregnant. She had planned to surrender herself to the Immigration Agency but failed to do so since the office hours temporarily changed at Nationwide Level 3 COVID-19 Epidemic Alert in Taiwan. She also went to a clinic where the outdoor hanging a sign written in her mother language. When the clinic staff asked for her ID to register for an obstetric examination, R suddenly felt scared and left the clinic immediately. Time passed, and her belly was getting bigger day by day. At last, when R really had to think about give birth, she surrendered herself to the Immigration Agency in order to seek assistance...
"If you want to have baby you need a plan, because our baby is not a plan, so you need to think first, because it’s very hard if you’re already here (to work), it’s very hard to leave, so you need also to think about what’s best for your baby. "