Journal of Social Development in Africa (1993), 8,2,73-81 
Substitute Family Placements of 
Unaccompanied Mozambican Refugee 
Children: A Field Perspective 
STANLEY PHIRI+ & JOAN W DUNCAN* 
ABSTRACT 
This article will focus on several issues and difficulties faced by field staff 
attemptingto provide substitute familyplacementforunaccompaniedMozambican 
children in refugee camps. Field observations make it increasingly apparent that 
specific policy issues and field practice regarding the fostering of unaccompanied 
refugee children is a complex area requiring substantial attention and follow-up. 
Problems and dilemmas include the sheer numbers of children in need of placement, 
difficulties in locating families able and willing to care for children other than their 
own, cultural differences among refugees, unsuccessful placements and difficulties 
in providing follow-up. A brief description of the context of social services 
provision will point out some of the severe conditions and lack of resources within 
which workers attempt to provide good foster placement. Our discussion will draw 
on our work as an international child-focused, non-governmental organisation 
(NGO) in southern Africa. SCF (USA) works in collaboration with governmental 
bodies, indigenous NGOs and the refugee community to create the potential for 
family reunification. Case examples are presented to highlight relevant issues; 
names and other identifying information have been changed to protect the identity 
of children and families. A call for the development of culturally appropriate 
guidelines is made. 
Introduction 
The family unit is the most fundamental unit to the survival of the child. Through 
it children are nurtured, protected and educated. Under its guidance and support 
children are given the necessary social and emotional tools to become productive 
members in society. War, natural disasters, refugee situations and other forms of 
major emergencies threaten the survival of children because they threaten the 
foundation of the family, its unity and stability. Research consistently indicates that 
+ National Programme Coordinator, Children & War Program, SCF (USA), Malawi. 
* Professor of Psychology, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
74 Stanley Phiri and Joan W Duncan 
attacks on family members, the death of family members, threats to the well-being 
of family members, as well as the uncertainty of the whereabouts or safety of family 
members, all frighten children most and seem to inflict the greatest trauma on 
children (Freud &Burlingham, 1943;Dodge&Raundalen, 1987,1991;Punamaki, 
1982). The extent and degree of trauma experienced by children following a 
parental separation aremoderatedbyavariety of factors relating to thecircumstances 
of separation. These include: the age of the child when separated, with children 
between the ages of six months and four years appearing to be at the greatest risk 
for attachment disturbances; the length of time of separation, with more lengthy 
separations having the potential for more adverse effects; and the conditions under 
which the separation occurred, which relate to the potential for reunification 
(Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980; Schaffer & Callender, 1959; Wolkind & Rutter, 
1977). 
Research has pointed to the adverse sequelae that often accompany the death 
of parents as important contributory factors to psychological vulnerability and 
dysfunction in the child (Brown et al, 1985). For example, in the context of war, 
loss of parent or caregi ver is often accompanied by other life-threatening events or 
conditions: lack of food, shelter and clothing, exposure to violence, exploitation, 
and persecution (Ressler, Boothby & Steinbock, 1988). 
For the children of Mozambique, the effects of war are devastating, continuous 
and far-ranging - affecting health, education and psychosocial realms (Richman, 
Ratilal & Aly, 1989; BIP, 1991). Over one-third of Mozambique's children die 
before the age of five. Of those who survive many have become the victims as well 
as the tools of war (Boothby, Upton and Sultan, 1991). Over one-third of 
Mozambique's children have lost one or both parents, leaving the care and 
protection of these children to the hard-hit extended family and community, host 
countries and the international aid community (BIP, 1991). 
Over three million Mozambicans are internally displaced and over two million 
are refugees. As of October 1992, over 123,000 refugees (up from 98,000, at the 
beginning of the year) were in Zimbabwe (World Food Programme Report, 1992) 
and 1,021,085 in Malawi (Office of the President and Cabinet, Malawi, 1992). 
Reports indicate that per month, an average of 5,000 refugees arrive in Zimbabwe 
and 15,000 in Malawi. These numbers have continued to swell as a severe drought 
in the southern Africa region has further weakened the ability of the family to 
surviveandcareforitschildren.Otherreportspredict that upwards of three million 
people are directly affected by the drought in Mozambique (BBC, 1992).
Substitute Family Placements 75 
Unaccompanied Mozambican children continue to be a grave concern of the 
Mozambican government. By unaccompanied we refer to children who are: 
"under the age of majority and not accompanied by a parent, guardian, or 
other person who by law or custom is responsible for him or her" 
(Ressler, Boothby & Steinbock, 1988). 
Conservative estimates of the numbers of unaccompanied children are in the tens 
of thousands. Intensive efforts to reunite children with their families of origin have 
been ongoing. Through various collaborative community-based programme initiatives, 
indigenous organisations, Mozambican communities, governmental social 
service departments and NGOs have joined hands in working to reunify children 
with their families. As the numbers of refugees increase, family reunification 
efforts have been extended to countries of first asylum. 
When children are separated from family, the most desirable action is to reunite 
them with the family. However, in the context of war, mass migration and lack of 
military security, it is often not possible to quickly reunite the child with his or her 
family of origin. Therefore, children are placed in substitute families until parents 
or close relatives can be located. 
On the whole, substitute family placement solutions are better than institutional 
ones. In agood substitute family placement, the child has an opportunity for regular 
meaningful contact with an adult care-giver. This is typically less available in an 
institution like an orphanage or unaccompanied minors' house, which has a 
tendency to concentrate on material needs at the expense of addressing psychosocial 
needs. 
Problems in Substitute Placements 
A myriad of factors create problems for successful family placements. The first is 
the sheer magnitude of the task. The task requires identifying appropriate substitute 
families, following-up frequently on children placed, and problem-solving with 
foster families. Each of these components often involves the coordinated efforts of 
administrative and social service personnel of the host country, refugee community 
leaders, as well as NGO field staff who may be involved in child-focused 
programmes within the camp. 
Second, appropriate and timely case management of the unaccompanied child 
is made even more difficult by several realities at the field level. As the number of 
refugees increase, field staff are insufficient to cover the need. As a result, staff
76 Stanley Phiri and Joan W Duncan 
responsibilities may be broadened or expanded to include areas for which staff 
have not received proper training. For example, training for registration and 
administration, nutritional monitoring or health-related services are not 
interchangeable with training in case management and assessment of a family's 
ability to provide foster care for a child. When social service staff are used to cover 
theadditional workload generated by large numbers of new arrivals, likeregistration 
and plot allocation, social service responsibilities may be neglected. Workers are 
simply spread too thin. At the field level, where telecommunications and 
transportation often do not exist or are unreliable, discussion, information sharing, 
supervision, and feedback occur sporadically. Workers often feel isolated and 
unsupported as they struggle to make difficult foster care placement decisions in 
the best interest of the child. 
Lastly, clear and specific guidelines need to be developed for staff to follow 
when assessing substitute family options for children. The development of these 
guidelines should proceed with the full participation of the refugee community. 
Ultimately, the community itself is the source for workable and sustainable 
solutions. Full input from the community will help avoid culturally inappropriate 
placements that are likely to be unsustainable - particularly at repatriation. 
Generally, in cases where placement was made with the assistance of the Mozambican 
community, and where there has been some constant follow-up, there has 
been a degree of success. 
Children ought not to be placed in families where tribal, regional, religious and 
languagedifferenceswillmakeitdifficult,ifnotimpossible,for them to fully join 
the family. Some families do not wish to care for unaccompanied children from 
different tribes, because they believe that a child from a different ancestry may 
bring bad fortune onto the family. Other families may take in an unaccompanied 
child, but not fully accept the child into the family. It must be pointed out that 
people do not automatically affiliate just because they are Mozambican or 
Vietnamese. Within Mozambique, there are differences in, for example, matrilineal 
or patrilineal systems. To place a child from a patrilineal system in a 
matrilineal family would create difficulties. The same reasoning applies to a child 
and foster family with different religions (eg Islam and Christianity), or originating 
from different areas or regions of the country, as mentioned above. 
Lack of attention to any of these factors places the child at risk of isolation or 
neglect, as well as abandonment or exploitation. In fact, with repatriation underway, 
it now appears that a significant percentage of unaccompanied Mozambican 
refugee children, who have been placed in families with such differences, are in 
jeopardy of possibly being abandoned again, as substitute families depart for 
different provinces of origin.
Substitute Family Placements 77 
Isolation and Emotional Deprivation 
One of the prime purposes in placing a child in a substitute family is to give the 
child access to the support and guidance a family can offer. In some cases children 
are placed into families where the parents themselves are depleted of emotional 
reserves. These children face a family unit where they are competing for scarce or 
sometimes non-existent resources. They are not given emotional support, are not 
stimulated at home, or are not encouraged to seek the support or stimulation they 
might obtain through attending school or making friends. 
The emotional deprivation the child faces at the family level may be echoed and 
reinforced by the breakdown of community support for the African family. For 
example, cases have been observed in the camp where there is a funeral at one 
house and the next door neighbours are not appropriately respectful. This lack of 
connectedness to others would never be observed in the village. Similarly, in 
another incident, a child apparently had been badly beaten by a cousin with whom 
he had been placed. When asked about this the neighbours said that it was an 
internal family problem and that they did not see any reason why they should 
interfere. They cited other important things competing for their attention. Again, 
this level of isolation of the family unit is rare in African life and has obvious 
repercussions for children in families in such a setting. 
Exploitation/Neglect 
Some families accept an unaccompanied child for humanitarian reasons; the child 
is nurtured, provided for and becomes an equal member of the family. However, 
not all families accept a child for purely altruistic reasons. Physical and sexual 
exploitation is not unique to this setting. Indeed, the severity of the situation, 
particularly as resources becomemore scarce, increases thepotentialforexploitation. 
The camp policies wherein a family receives an adult food ration, extra blankets, 
Vaseline and soap for taking in a child, might militate against the well-being of the 
fostered child. In the extreme, situations have arisen where the child becomes a 
material asset in a setting of great material scarcity. This state of affairs actually 
undermines ongoing reunification efforts as the foster parents might not want to 
lose the child for material reasons. Parents who are fostering girls, in particular, 
might be reluctant to lose a girl who has reached puberty, because apart from 
domestic value, more importantly, shealso has lobola (brideprice) value. Sometimes 
placements break down because of material scarcity in any given family. This in 
itself is a dilemma because the community does not have enough resources to 
generate substitute families.
78 Stanley Phiri and Joan W Duncan 
Dilemmas also arise when material support from agencies or government is only 
provided to the fostered child and not to other children in the family, potentially 
creating a conflict The provision must ideally be in the context of the whole family 
situation. 
The development of guidelines on identifying appropriate families, how to 
prepare and support substitute families and follow-up procedures can facilitate 
problem-solving and the early identification of inappropriate placements. For 
example, by increasing the frequency of follow-ups on newly-placed children, 
instances of exploitation might be identified promptly rather than late when the 
situation has become extreme enough for the child to take potentially dangerous 
actions. Policies placing the weight of making a complaint on the child are likely 
to hide problems, prolong suffering and force a child to take desperate action. 
Rosa, for example, is an eleven year-old girl who was placed in a family 
consisting of a mother, father and four children. Most often the resources of the 
family were not shared with Rosa, although Rosa seldom complained to her foster 
parents. Culturally, it is appropriate for Rosa's younger siblings to show respect to 
her. Most often, however, they tease her, call her names and order her around. This 
is tacitly reinforced and sometimes sanctioned by her foster parents. Rosa was 
enrolled in school. Her teacher reports that, although she was slow, she had started 
showing interest in her studies and other school activities. Rosa was also enrolled 
in a child enrichment programme. She suddenly stopped attending both. A followup 
visit by social service workers discovered that, against official policy, her foster 
parents had contracted her to work in one of the local estates. She was working long 
hours, from first light to late afternoon, with very little to eat. When asked about 
school, her foster parents assured the fieldworkers that they would send her back 
to school. In private conversations they stated there was no need for her to attend 
school; instead, they felt it was best for her to work in order to supplement the 
family's needs. However, their own biological daughter, who is older than Rosa, 
was not contracted out to work and attended school. Persistent follow-up with the 
parents revealed that they were unwilling and even resented the idea of talking to 
the social service worker. The case was referred to a higher authority who agreed 
with the fieldworker that an alternative foster home should be located for Rosa. 
Carlos fled to the bush when his village was attacked, and he was separated from 
his parents. He is four years old. He was found by Maria, an older woman who 
accompanied him to a neighbouring country where she became his foster parent 
upon registration. She had three children of her own. Carlos was placed under her 
care at the time of registration; social service workers, however, were not informed 
about this placement. Consistent with policy, an additional ration was given to 
Maria. Luckily, after some time, neighbours reported that Carlos was being
Substitute Family Placements 79 
neglected and was not being fed enough, despite the extra ration. The foster parent 
reported that Carlos did not have an appetite for anything else other than mealiemeal 
porridge. However, it was evident on follow-up that Carlos was seriously 
malnourished, while the other children in the family did not appear malnourished. 
Carlos was taken to the feeding centre and placed on a supplementary diet. 
Abandonment 
In some cases, children are simply left to their own devices and are either literally 
or figuratively abandoned. Two adolescent brothers experienced several 
unsuccessful placements. Foster parents described them as delinquent and 
disrespectful. The boys, on the other hand, reported that they had been maltreated. 
In the absence of another substitute family placement, the boys began to stay on 
their own, unsupervised by any adult Both stopped going to school. They began 
to leave the security of the camp, going on cross-border trips for periods of up to 
two weeks. Unfortunately, during the course of one trip, one of the boys stepped 
on a land mine and was killed. The other boy is still missing, and it is feared that 
he may have been captured by armed men. 
Implications/Suggestions 
Each of these cases points to the need to develop policies and procedures to address 
the difficulty of making successful placements and the realities that limit solutions. 
Atabasic policy level.proceduresshouldbe devised that do not encourage families 
to use children to gain additional food and material needs. On a supervisory level, 
the importance of communication between workers and the need for frequent and 
careful follow-up cannot be over-emphasised. Greater assessment of what a 
particular child requires and more careful screening of the proposed foster family 
are needed. Greater community participation could help avoid such potential missteps 
as placing a child in a family with a different language or a child from a 
patrilineal tribe into a matrilineal family, or vice versa, or with other cultural 
prohibitions. Additionally, in the process of community participation, more 
intimate relationships would be built with the community members that could aid 
in identifying new foster placements. 
For example, Jose is a fifteen year-old unaccompanied child. He was placed in 
a foster family identified with the assistance of Mozambican personnel. The foster 
parents and the child speak the same language, come from the same region, have 
the same beliefs, religion and are from the same tribe. This particular family has
80 Stanley Phiri and Joan W Duncan 
seen constant follow-ups. Apart from the child reporting occasionally that he has 
been missing his parents, his health has been good, he has made friends even though 
he does not go to school. He appears happy and reasonably settled and adjusted to 
his new situation. On being asked what their plans regarding repatriation were, the 
family replied that they would go back with the child, adding that it would be easier 
to trace his parents because they came from the same region and shared many other 
similarities (beliefs, spirits, religion etc). They indicated they would stay with the 
child if they did not manage to trace his parents. 
Another example of what has also seemed to work is placement of children with 
older women living on their own who might also have suffered losses (husbands 
and/or children). The agency provides some modest material assistance and 
follow-ups while continuing to trace the family. This arrangement has received the 
sanction and acceptance of the community - an often overlooked but important 
factor in the psychosocial well-being of both parties in this arrangement. 
Respected women in a village or camp (OMM women in Mozambique, 
community and church leaders) are a potential source of sustainable assistance in 
monitoring placements. The potential for churches and religious groups in the 
camps in providing substitute families could also be explored. However, there is 
a need to look out for extreme proselytising. For example, a Muslim child might 
be wrongly placed in a family of intense, evangelical Christian faith. 
Identification of, collaboration and coordination with other support structures 
in the community, like primary schools and preschool teachers, are critical. 
Teachers have close contact with parents and care-givers in the community. They 
could encourage foster families to support school attendance and help monitor 
potential problem situations. As respected figures within the community, teachers 
could also be involved in counselling, discussion and sensitisation of issues for the 
community. Similarly, traditional leaders, religious leaders and their acolytes 
could also be called upon to sensitise the community. 
Summary 
Problems in placements not only put some children at risk physically, they also 
deprive the child of nurturance, love, and a sense of belonging. Repercussions on 
the society of placement difficulties include: weakening of socialisation processes 
and traditional values; norms not being passed on as they would be through the 
family unit; unavailability of important role models and less opportunity for 
guidance and correction to occur. Though there are successes, the pressing 
problems must also be addressed. Greater training, review of policies, communication, 
community involvement and sensitivity to cultural issues are all elements 
that must be incorporated into placement initiatives.
Substitute Family Placements 81 
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