Approximately one-quarter of the school children of the canton of Vaud (Switzerland) are foreigners, mainly Italians and Spaniards. The majority of these children and their families belong to the lower socio-economic classes. The author discusses the difficulties caused by the social and cultural distance which exists between the doctor and those families. The doctor must determine his attitude towards many problems inherent to the condition of foreign children and their families such as: social identity, difficulties in adaptation, the necessity that the mothers go out to work, insecure revenue, affective and social isolation, dislocation of both the nuclear and the larger family, etc. In this population there are many children and families that should be considered at high risk.

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cultural anthropology central nervous system preschool child normal human social class Child Development school child family migration