Thousands of children are being uprooted as I write. Some accompany parents who are starting new jobs; some go with their parents as optimistic migrants; while others flee as refugees, sometimes with their parents, sometimes not. Whatever the reason many children feel distressed at having to move. They have to leave behind the familiar, with the unknown ahead. Even when they reach a new location, there can often be a different language to be learned, and a perplexing culture to be understood, as well as the challenge of making new friends and being accepted by them. However, the children for whom such moves are likely to be the most harrowing are those who have to go away unaccompanied by parents, relatives or friends; but if the settings are not too unfamiliar and essentially benevolent, and if the children do not feel abandoned, some may be able to settle.

War has been, and remains, a major cause of disruptions like these. Its effects may range from evacuation out of a danger zone to ethnic cleansing or forced enlistment as child soldiers. Apart from the upheavals created by armed conflict some children are sold into virtual slavery or prostitution, while girls may be obliged to leave home as child brides. Many get caught up in a downward spiral of constant movement, despair, fear and deprivation, not least those who run away from intolerable situations.

It goes without saying, of course, that the consequences of such uprooting affect children differently. Nevertheless, certain themes recur. There is uncertainty, even when mixed with excitement and hopefulness. For others there is a sense of being cast adrift, of being unprotected and therefore profoundly vulnerable. Yet one of the beliefs that adults have held, and which some still do, is that children, especially young children, are essentially pliable and adaptable. They are assumed to settle easily into new situations because they are at a stage of rapid development and because they have little past to put behind them. Of course this ignores the fact that, just as much as adults, they have their own unique histories, however brief and fragmentary, that remain a crucial part of their sense of identity.