Stay-at-home mother and co-researcher Lily Chan and project researcher Liselott Sundbäck teamed up to explore what trust really looks like for migrant mothers in Finland — and why small acts of care inside institutions can make all the difference.
When Liselott, researcher in the Mobile Futures project, invited migrant mothers to become co-researchers and co-write a policy brief, she didn’t know whether anyone would have the time, energy, or interest to join. But Lily decided to take the leap.
"When the opportunity presented itself to become a co-researcher alongside peers from similar backgrounds, something in me wanted to give it a try,” Lily recalls. Her own experience as a migrant stay-at-home mother had been marked by moments of feeling lost, unseen, and unsure of her place. The idea of being a co-researcher was new to her, and the topic of trust in society felt deep and heavy, especially while caring for a one-year-old. Still, something pulled her in. The conversations that followed brought together perspectives as foreigners, as mothers, and as women navigating Finland’s social institutions. Being part of the co-researcher group, and working on the brief, became a way to connect those personal realities with broader questions of trust in society.
For Liselott, the motivation was clear:
“In Finnish society mothers who have moved to Finland are seldom heard… We wanted the mothers to be co-creators of new knowledge, as they are the ones who are experts by experience.”
What writing together actually looked like
The co-writing process started as a result of a co-research group with full-time mothers, in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation Familia ry. And about six months after the group wrapped up, Lily and Liselott started writing, giving enough time to reflect on the process. The collaboration unfolded both online and face-to-face, always grounded in empathy and shared purpose.
Lily wrote during her son’s naps or with him sitting beside her during calls. “The understanding from the team made it possible for me to take a leap of faith and write with honesty and heart,” she says.
Liselott found the collaboration equally valuable: “I learned a lot from Lily related to strategic thinking, both on how to write the policy brief and on how to get it ‘out there’.” Lily’s questions about impact, who will read the policy brief, and how the change is measured, pushed the whole team to reflect more deeply on the impact a policy brief can have.
What surprised both of them was how closely the writing mirrored the very recommendations they were developing. As Lily puts it, “Whether we realized it or not, we were living the recommendations, through openness, care, and shared purpose.”
Trust is built in the small moments
Both Lily and Liselott highlight that the brief centres the emotional and relational dimensions of institutional encounters — something often overlooked in discussions about integration.
Key messages include:
1. Clarity and Communication
Accessible information, consistent guidance, and language support help mothers feel seen and understood. Clear communication builds confidence and reduces uncertainty.
2. Compassion, Care and Respect
Meeting clients with empathy and recognizing their stories and dignity strengthens long-term trust. As Lily notes, “small acts of care strengthen lasting trust.”
3. Connection and Community
Belonging matters. Institutions can nurture a sense of community, something Lily brought strongly into the brief and which Liselott sees as too often forgotten in integration discussions.
As Liselott summarizes: “Institutional encounters are not only administrative matters, but have a huge emotional part where trust comes in.”
What they hope will happen next
For Lily, impact starts small:
"If even one person or team reads it and feels moved to make a change, that is a success.”
She hopes professionals will pause and think about whether they are doing what they can to build trust with the mothers they are serving. And beyond reflection, she calls for action, sharing the brief with colleagues, trying the recommendations, and making the results visible is something all institutions working with stay-at-home mothers could do.
Liselott hopes the brief encourages both professionals and politicians to see trust as a bridge between individuals and institutions. The steps toward trusting relations are not always costly or difficult, much is about empathic encounters.
Towards more trusting encounters
The collaboration between Lily and Liselott embodies the core message of their brief: trust grows through respectful, human-to-human interaction. Their joint work shows what becomes possible when research is created with the people it concerns.
Their call to institutions is simple and actionable:
Communicate clearly. Meet people with care. Build community. These everyday practices are where trust, and change begins.
Read the policy brief
Read the whole policy brief in English här
And in Finnish här
The policy brief has been written by Lily Chan, a migrant mother in a full time caregiving role and co-researcher, and Liselott Sundbäck, a project researcher in Mobile Futures.
We recognize the term “stay-at-home mothers” being a politicized concept, surrounded by stereotypes (Odenweller & Rittenour, 2017) and we use it with caution in this policy brief. This term does not fully capture the scope of what mothers do each day with their children. Moreover, the word “stay” implies that the mother is primarily confined to the home, which does not reflect reality and may unintentionally diminish the value of her work. More empowering alternatives that reflect their active, nurturing, and engaged role could include: Full-Time Mom, Active Mom, Care Lead, or Family Care Lead.