Formal and informal child placements : some considerations from a cross-­cultural prospection on their frequency and motivations

This paper refines and extends previous cross-cultural research on circulation of children by taking into consideration some appointed shortages stated in previous studies -not only from Anthropology but also from other related disciplines. Though some studies have pointed out the relevance of formal and informal child placements in many different societies across the world, a systematic research of the cross-cultural dimension of the circulation of children (term that comprises both formal and informal social practices) is yet to be fully developed. Thus, I try to overcome specific methodological constrictions in that field by exploring the extension, frequency and motivations of child circulation according to the extracted ethnographic records