Defying the odds: Exceptional heritage language maintenance among Chinese‐Australian children

Abstract This study explores how Chinese‐Australian families defy systemic pressures toward English monolingualism to achieve exceptional heritage language maintenance (HLM). Through a tripartite Family Language Policy (FLP) framework—ideologies, management and practices—the research examines three ‘positive deviant’ children who sustain high‐level Chinese proficiency in Australia. The research, conducted between 2017 and 2020, employs a qualitative approach through interviews, conversations, observations and documentation of literacy resources to explore the children's linguistic adjustment, bilingual practices, HL learning, socialization and proficiency. Findings highlight the interplay of deliberate FLP, child agency and transnational resource mobilization in achieving exceptional HLM. By centring rare successes, this research shifts discourse from HL attrition to resilience, offering actionable insights for families and policymakers navigating bilingualism in host sociolinguistic climates. However, findings also reveal systemic barriers and class disparities that perpetuate linguistic marginalization, fostering elite bilingualism accessible primarily to privileged families. It calls for educational reforms valuing multilingualism and redistributive policies to support diverse diasporic communities.