Lives apart – Family separation and alternative care during El Salvador’s civil war

This case study, commissioned by the Save the Children Alliance initiative “Care and Protection of Separated Children in Emergencies” (CPSC), concerns the phenomenon of children who disappeared during the civil war in El Salvador, and is based on the work and experience of PROBUSQUEDA, an association within the human rights movement whose mandate is to search for children who disappeared as a result of the armed conflict in El Salvador. The study begins with an examination of the circumstances under which children disappeared or became separated from their families. Chapter 3 describes the organisation’s work and approach and the following chapter introduces the different care arrangements experienced by the children and examines the methodology used to explore young people’s experiences of care. The following four chapters look at different care arrangements – residential institutions, international adoption, de facto adoption or fostering in El Salvador and growing up on a military base. Chapter 9 offers an analysis of the issues derived from these four chapters. The Appendix includes some life stories of disappeared children.