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The Sustainability of Substitute Family Care for Children Separated from Their Families by War: Evidence from Mozambique
Author(s) -
Charnley Helen
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.883
Subject(s) - normative , sustainability , indigenous , coping (psychology) , empirical evidence , psychology , nursing , sociology , socioeconomics , economic growth , developmental psychology , political science , medicine , clinical psychology , economics , law , ecology , philosophy , epistemology , biology
This article presents the findings of an empirical study exploring the sustainability of the substitute family in supporting children separated from their families during Mozambique's 16‐year civil conflict. It describes shifts in the boundaries that have defined arrangements for the care of children separated from their normative family care givers and shows that, contrary to received wisdom based on traditional forms of child care, children and substitute families have achieved lasting relationships through new forms of mutual support that typify indigenous coping mechanisms in times of stress.