Impact of Family Separation Risk on Child Development: A Systematic Review Protocol

Family separation—actual or imminent—represents a major risk factor in child development and occurs in contexts such as migration, foster care and alternative care placement, parental incarceration, divorce, institutionalization, domestic violence, armed conflict, and extreme socioeconomic instability. A growing body of literature suggests that both the risk of separation and actual separation from family may have profound consequences for children’s psychological, emotional, behavioral, and social development. Reported outcomes include increased anxiety, depression, emotional dysregulation, attachment disturbances, behavioral problems, and impaired peer relationships. However, existing evidence is highly heterogeneous, varying in definitions of separation and risk, child age, duration and cause of separation, cultural context, and outcome measurement. A systematic synthesis of this literature is therefore needed to clarify the magnitude, direction, and moderators of these effects. This systematic review aims to integrate quantitative and qualitative evidence on how the risk of family separation and/or actual separation impacts child development across short- and long-term outcomes.