Who cares? The legal (non)recognition of caregiving by single and childfree aunts in Taiwan

Aunts remain the “forgotten kin” in family and kinship care studies, which largely center on parenthood and coupledom. Existing literature tends to subsume them under the broad category of extended family members, devoting scant scholarly attention to aunthood as a distinct category or to the relationship between aunthood and the law. This article addresses that gap and contributes to singlehood studies by examining the legal treatment of aunt care in Taiwan, focusing on single and childfree aunts (“SACAs”) within a social‐legal context where patrilineality and patrilocality persist despite the law's formal neutrality. It asks what the family might look like if aunts were placed at the center, mapping their legal status in comparison to other kin and showing that the law positions them as remote third parties to parenthood. Drawing on court decisions, the article analyzes SACAs' roles in supplemental and nonparent primary care, as well as their pathways toward legal parenthood. SACAs providing supplemental care are sometimes acknowledged as part of their siblings' extended family care support network, enhancing their siblings' post‐divorce custody claims. Yet their caregiving rarely translates into legal entitlements; claims for dependent tax benefits are frequently denied due to narrow co‐residence definitions and singlism. SACAs acting as nonparent primary caregivers may be appointed as legal guardians and recognized as surrogate mothers, particularly when parents are absent or when sibling ties would be strengthened, but the transition from aunthood to motherhood is often fraught with obstacles, as courts remain reluctant to recognize multi‐parent families and sometimes exhibit singlism. The article calls for law and policy reforms to acknowledge SACAs' caregiving, broaden recognition of diverse family structures, and resist the privatization of dependency. An aunt‐centered approach challenges the marriage paradigm and the parent dyad, advancing a vision of law that better reflects the diversity of caregiving and family formations.