‘A Child has Many Mothers’

Abstract

This article examines 20 fostering arrangements in a growing urban community in northwestern Cameroon from the perspectives of those involved. Analysis of interviews with caregivers and birth mothers suggests that the nature of adult relationships is central to children’s living arrangements. Three caregiver-mother relationship profiles are described: the joint venture, the ambivalent takeover and the tug-of-war. These profiles are compared with views of the ideal fostering arrangement and subsequently discussed in relation to the adjustments sub-Saharan families have made and continue to make to contemporary realities.