This paper reports on 20 women born in the Caribbean whose birth mothers left them there as young children in the care of grandmothers or other members of their extended family. This was in order to migrate to Great Britain during the late 1950s through the 1970s in search of economic prosperity, and reunification with the father/husband already working in the UK. The reunions occurred typically more than a decade later, in the child's adolescence, when mother and child were meeting as if for the first time. The sample of women was divided into two groups, one who was receiving or had received counselling or psychotherapy, and those who had no experience of therapy. Using a semi-structured Interview Schedule (the Separation Reunion Interview Schedule developed for this study), the narratives obtained suggested coherence and reflection. There was little difference in the reactions to the separation-reunion experience of the women in both groups. They all expressed difficulties in trusting others. They also expressed longing to be loved by their own mothers and they felt less wanted than any children (siblings) born in Britain to their mothers. They attributed their resilient stance and survival to their ability to recall the memories of care received during their early years. The study raises many questions and highlights the need for further research on broken attachments, separation, and loss among entire Caribbean families. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

Narratives culture Réunion Attachment race Trust

West Indies memory sampling survival human immigration middle aged economic aspect Mother-Child Relations controlled study priority journal Adult Children Object Attachment Adaptation, Psychological African Caribbean Great Britain child behavior ethnology psychotherapy Maternal Deprivation Humans Trust African Continental Ancestry Group counseling semi structured interview preschool child female Infant adolescence Narration child psychiatry Article adult human experiment United Kingdom Emigration and Immigration recall grief emotional attachment caregiver mother child relation