Belonging and Belongings, livre ebook

Offers a deep dive into the daily lives of children who alternate between their parents’ homes in the context of shared physical custody arrangements.

Gives voice to children and their perspectives of home in shared physical custody contexts family context.

The book offers new tools for thinking about how separated/divorced parents conceive of the boundaries between their home and that of their ex-partner, and shows how children deal with these boundaries

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Based on in-depth fieldwork with Belgian children aged 10 to 16, this book examines how children in shared physical custody define and negotiate their place within the household of each parent.

The authors analyse how family practices within and between each dwelling shape children’s sense home, and the strategies and skills children develop to manage and position themselves in these different environments.

Challenging common stereotypes and giving voice to children in shared custody, the book provides valuable insights for practitioners and scholars to better understand and support children and their parents.

1. Shared Custody and Sense of Home: The Child's Point of View

2. Parental Islands

3. The Journey Between Islands: Transitioning from One Dwelling to the Other

4. Routines and Rituals of Return

5. Making Each Island ‘One's Own Island': Defining and Negotiating One's Place

6. Maintaining One's Place During Absence

7. A 'Singular-Plural' Sense of Home

Concluding Reflections