Child circulation in disaster contexts

The case of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

Bibliographic Data

ID2285293
AuthorsTess M Kulstad‐gonzález (0000-0002-0553-0575, Grinnell College, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume28
Issue1
Pages32-41
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1935-4932 • E-ISSN: 1935-4940
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jlca.12652
OpenAlexW4322726695
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited26

This article examines how disasters and epidemics affect childrearing practices. Specifically, it looks at how the 2010 earthquake and cholera epidemic in Haiti affected transnational child circulation practices along the Haiti-Dominican Republic border. Foster children and orphans were prominent in international humanitarian aid efforts. Our findings from ethnographic research conducted on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border from 2004-2010 show that decontextualized child-rescue focused interventions were more detrimental to children and families than the earthquake and epidemic themselves. While well-intentioned, child-focused measures increased the vulnerability of thousands of children and their families. They also restricted the pre-existing transborder movement of children that characterized the area

Computer security · Criminology · Development economics · Economic growth · Ethnography · Geography · Natural disaster · Political science · Psychological intervention · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Migration, Health and Trauma · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology

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