When parents migrate, leaving their children in the origin country, transnational families are formed. Transnational family studies on children who are "left behind" indicate that children suffer psychologically from parental migration. Many of the factors identified as affecting children's responses to parental migration however are not considered in child psychology and family sociology studies. This study aims to bridge these areas of knowledge by quantitatively investigating the association between transnational families and children's psychological well-being. It analyzes a survey conducted in three African countries in 2010-11 (Ghana N = 2760; Angola N = 2243; Nigeria N = 2168) amongst pupils of secondary schools. The study compares children in transnational families to those living with their parents in their country of origin. Children's psychological well-being is measured through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses reveal that children in transnational families fare worse than their counterparts living with both parents but not in Ghana where living conditions mediate this relationship. This paper also looks at four characteristics of transnational families and finds that specific characteristics of transnational families and country contexts matter: (1) changing caregivers is associated with poorer well-being in all countries; (2) which parent migrates does not make a difference in Ghana, when mothers migrate and fathers are caregivers results in poorer well-being in Nigeria, and both mother's and father's migration result in worse outcomes in Angola; (3) the kin relationship of the caregiver is not associated with poorer well-being in Ghana and Nigeria but is in Angola; (4) children with parents who migrate internationally do not show different results than children whose parents migrate nationally in Ghana and Nigeria but in Angola international parental migration is associated with poorer psychological well-being. The study shows that broader characteristics in the population rather than parental migration per se are associated with decreased levels of well-being.

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This article explores the reintegration experiences of former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) child abductees into Acholi society in Northern Uganda. Based on interviews with 10 former abductees who were returned to communities for 2 years or more, it explores identity transitions for youth from pre-abduction, to their forced abduction into the LRA and subsequent escape and reintegration. Returnees such as those who have been members of the LRA for a long time, or who have been implicated in the commission of major human rights violations, appear to be at higher risk of rejection on return. Drawing on concepts of relational identity, the paper questions whether there is a role for some culturally grounded forum that can acknowledge identity transitions that some former abductees and their communities may have experienced with respect to each other. Traditional justice and reconciliation approaches, adapted to incorporate international child rights and protection safeguards, could provide such a forum and complement psychosocial reintegration initiatives for returnees at high risk of community rejection. To date, psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration programs have failed to adequately address issues of impunity.The presence and participation of children in war and conflict is not a new phenomenon. During the last few decades, however, a shift has occurred from using children and adolescents-defined by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child as being below 18 years of age-not only as adjuncts to or the last line of defense in conflict, but also as principal participants in many conflicts. Between 1998 and 2001 children were being used as soldiers in at least 87 out of 178 countries,

Type of publicationArticle ( Experiences of refugee, internally displaced and migrant children in different contexts (such as post-conflict and resettlement) are often considered separately, yet closer analysis points to the existence of commonalities across transnational locations and a need to articulate the ways in which global systems, state policies and migration processes impact on the lives of these children. Current discourses, policies and practices towards forced migrant children show that there are divergent and at times conflicting constructions of childhood and migration, and implicitly reveal the positions that these children occupy in relation to the nation-state system. In this article we focus on the existence of common divergent discourses that emerge from contexts in the global North and South, including Rwanda, Uganda, Ireland and the United Kingdom, where we have carried out research with children forced to move. Our overall aim is to repoliticise the position of child and youth forced migration through an analysis of three sets of divergent or ambivalent discourses: a) forced-migrant children as product of and threat to the nation-state; b) 'visible' and 'invisible' children; and c) the 'psychological' and the 'political' child.

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