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In France, pregnant women or women with children under the age of 18 months, and in exceptional cases 24 months, can serve their prison sentences in specially equipped nurseries or mother-child cells. This situation is likely to have a negative impact on the child's health, and on the quality of the bond with the mother over the longer or shorter term. The benefits of maintaining this bond are indisputable, whatever the setting. Improvements to this system could be considered and implemented., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Paternal involvement impacts the relationship between mother and child and protects the transmission of the traumatic experience in a migratory context. A study was conducted in France with mother-child dyads in which the women were exposed to traumatic events. It identified three themes around the metatheme of the father's place: the husband's function as moral support during migration, his cultural function as a relay for his wife to the child, and the maintenance of the bond despite his physical absence., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The Maison des adolescents of the Cochin Hospital in Paris is a multidisciplinary structure with a transcultural sensitivity. It welcomes young people, but also their families, and take into account their unique backgrounds. From the reception of the adolescent by the consultation nurse to the implementation of specific care in a transcultural group, the care pathway sometimes requires the mother-adolescent dyad to be carried along in order to achieve an appeasement of the sufferings of each., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objectives The objectives of this paper are to explore the impact of psychological trauma and migration on a mother's ambivalence regarding her relationship with her child and to explore the effect on the child's "continuity of being." Methods Literature on the ambivalence of mothers who have experienced trauma and migration is reviewed. The authors present the hypothesis that the presence of trauma and/or migration exacerbate the phenomenon of ambivalence and that it may impact early interactions in mother-infant dyads. The stories of three migrant dyads are presented to illustrate these processes. Results Pregnancy is a period of psychological and identity reorganisation during which a mother's ambivalence is as necessary as it is structuring for the child to come. The stories of the three mother-infant dyads presented in this paper highlight the impacts of migration and of traumatic experiences on entering motherhood in a foreign country. These mothers' representations of their children are affected by their ambivalence; the "child as a savior" and the "child as a persecutor" are in constant conflict within the mothers' psyche. The act of giving life is rooted in the mothers' histories and brings into question their very identities, their parentage and affiliations, as influenced by the hardships they have experienced. The arrival of a child is both a vulnerability factor as well as a source of tremendous resiliency. Therefore, it is essential to reflect on how to best welcome these mother-infant dyads in order to offer adapted and culturally sensitive care. Conclusion This paper offers a deeper review of a clinical reality often encountered in infant mental health with migrant and refugee populations. The perinatal period coinciding with migration is one of increased vulnerability and of potential revival of traumatic events. Giving birth in exile, especially when struggling with psychological trauma may impact maternal representations of their children. Children may then carry the burden of their histories or, inversely, become a source of creative potential for the mother-infant dyad. A transcultural approach is essential for a better understanding of the complex processes involved in becoming a mother in the context of trauma and/or migration and to improve care for mothers and their developing offspring.

The differences in how parents communicate their traumatic experience, through silence or by disclosure, play a fundamental role in the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Research into the transmission of trauma from mother to baby, in a humanitarian context, shows the importance of adapting the disclosure of the narrative of the mother's traumatic experience, which appears to be the most appropriate solution for protecting babies., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

In Central Africa, a team of psychosocial workers provides psychological support to traumatised mothers and their babies. They experience significant countertransferences, particularly when patients' accounts remind them of traumatic events they themselves have lived through. The emotions and the intensity felt by the team demonstrate the need for specific supervision in this context., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Research has been carried out to explore the countertransference reactions of a group of therapists faced with a mother having experienced traumatic events and her baby. The study highlights the potential advantages of a group setting for supporting these dyads., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Mental health care for infants and young children is often greatly limited in low-resource settings. The purpose of this study was to describe maternal perception of emotional difficulties of preschool children in a rural area of Niger (Maradi). In this context, both mental health awareness and services were scarce. This research was part of a larger cross-cultural validation study of a screening tool for psychological difficulties in children aged 3 to 6 years old. Data collection included group discussion and individual interviews. A total of 10 group interviews and 83 individual interviews were conducted. The results highlight mothers' perceptions concerning their children's psychological difficulties. Sleep difficulties were considered significant by the mothers and were used often as an entry point for further discussion of concerns. Peer and sibling relationships, separation anxiety, and reactions to difficult events were also described. Identification of mothers' perceptions of children's main difficulties through a mixed-method approach shows promise as a way to inform interventions to provide culturally appropriate care for children in need., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

Background: Detection of children's psychological difficulties in crises and low resource settings is challenged by the lack of a validated, rapid and simple tool. We present the results of two confirmatory validations of the Psychological Screening for Young Children aged 3 to 6 years (PSYCa 3-6) scale., Methods: We performed cross-cultural validations, assessing the performance of the scale in different contexts. These were conducted in Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya and Buenaventura, Colombia between December 2009 and February 2012. External validity was assessed comparing the PSYCa 3-6 against a clinical interview and the Clinical Global Impression Severity scale (CGI)., Results: A total of 160 mothers or caregivers of children 3 to 6 years old in Mathare and 148 in Buenaventura were included in the study. Both demonstrated good concurrent validity (Buenaventura ρ=0.49, p<0.0001; Mathare ρ=0.41, p<0.0001). Inter-rater reliability was found to be acceptable in Buenaventura (intraclass correlation [ICC]=0.69 [0.4-0.84]) and high in Mathare (0.87 [0.75-0.94])., Conclusions: As shown by its validation in diverse contexts, use in other populations may help improve the delivery of mental health care to children in crises and low-resource settings. Additional research on the design and delivery of intervention models for crises remains essential., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)