This article is based on the evidence of life story interviews with members of 45 families who have kin in Jamaica, Britain and North America. It argues that the transnational Jamaican form of family is based on a complex but informal and pragmatic type of family structure which has characterised Jamaican kinship since emancipation from slavery. It has long been common for children to be raised by grandparents or other kin, whether because of parental repartnering or through separations due to migration. The article shows how this shifts the typical focus of psychological loss in migration, and enables effective aid to be sustained through the transnational kin network in childrearing, care for the old, and migration itself. It seems, however, that this support is least effective for young men in contrast to young women. Finally the authors argue that these Jamaican transnational families, because of their long experience with handling transitions from repartnering, the strong role which they give to women, their interracialism and transnationalism, are a progressive modern form of family of wide relevance to family researchers everywhere.