Realising the right of children separated from parents in armed forces families: learning from the Scottish context
Author: Doudou Zhong
MSc Education, University of Edinburgh
Research summary/Blog
This year MSc students at University of Edinburgh have been working on dissertation topics that put children’s human rights at the center of their studies. With the support of Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) and partners in the Observatory for Children’s Human Rights in Scotland, excellent work has been undertaken that will support our shared efforts regarding implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Scotland.
About the Research
This dissertation examines how the rights of children from Armed Forces families in Scotland are protected, fulfilled, and promoted during periods of parental separation caused by military service. Guided by the UNCRC (1989), Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and the sociology of childhood, it adopts a child rights-based qualitative approach to explore how family, school, and community collectively shape children’s emotional well-being and rights realisation within the structural and cyclical nature of armed forces life.
Data were collected from a national conference organised by Forces Children Scotland and from open-ended questionnaires with children (aged 10–18), non-serving parents, and education professionals. Through thematic analysis, the study integrates multiple perspectives while centering children’s voices, revealing how emotional support, systemic structures, and institutional practices interact to influence their rights. By combining normative and ecological perspectives, this research contributes to understanding and improving integrated, rights-based support systems for armed forces children in Scotland.
Insights from the Literature
Existing research shows that children in Armed Forces families face distinct challenges resulting from institutionalised parental separation, frequent relocations, and cross-border transfers. These experiences often disrupt emotional stability, educational continuity, and social belonging, placing pressure on their rights under the UNCRC. While many studies – particularly U.S.-based – focus on behavioural or academic outcomes, few adopt a child-centred perspective or examine children’s agency as rights-holders. Theoretical contributions from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and the sociology of childhood highlight how children’s development and rights realisation are shaped by interconnected systems – from family and school relationships to broader social and policy contexts. However, gaps remain in understanding how structural barriers and institutional coordination affect children’s lived experiences of rights, especially in Scotland. Addressing these gaps requires integrating children’s voices, recognising their active participation, and evaluating how local implementation of the UNCRC fulfils their rights to connection, expression, and holistic development during parental separation.
Learning from Participants
Children described an emotional trajectory from initial distress (sadness, anxiety, disrupted routines) to prolonged worry and, for some, emotional numbing. Many developed self-devised coping, using letters/“bluey” notes, drawing, diaries, peers, clubs – while others withdrew. Non-serving parents reported dual burdens of caregiving and household management, limiting consistent emotional availability. Professionals recognised needs but highlighted uneven school awareness, scarce training, and fragmented coordination. Family and school could be anchors, yet support often depended on individual empathy rather than institutional mechanisms (e.g., few safe spaces, limited deadline flexibility in terms of school work). Community and Armed Forces initiatives existed but were patchy, with notable gaps for older children. Overall, participants revealed a mismatch between children’s articulated needs and system capacity, indicating unmet rights to connection, expression, and holistic development.
Key Findings and Considerations
This study identifies three interrelated findings.
First, children’s emotional experiences during parental deployment reveal both vulnerability and agency. They express distress, prolonged anxiety, and develop self-directed coping mechanisms, reflecting their active role in negotiating emotional challenges.
Second, family and school systems provide partial yet uneven support. While mothers and teachers act as emotional anchors, stress, limited awareness, and lack of structured mechanisms constrain consistent rights-based responses.
Third, broader social support – offered through military, educational, and community organisations – remains fragmented, with uneven access and weak coordination. Despite policy commitments to inclusion, systemic barriers hinder effective implementation.
Overall, the findings highlight the need for coherent, child-centred frameworks that integrate emotional, educational, and social dimensions to ensure children’s rights are meaningfully realised across all contexts of parental separation.
Implications and Future Directions
The findings highlight the urgent need to move beyond fragmented and adult-centred support systems toward integrated, rights-based frameworks that recognise children from armed forces families as active participants in shaping their own wellbeing. Schools should embed emotional literacy, rights awareness, and participatory opportunities into daily practice so that children’s voices directly inform policies and support mechanisms, in line with Articles 3 and 12 of the UNCRC. Teacher training and school-wide practices should prioritise systematic emotional support mechanisms rather than relying on individual empathy.
At the community and institutional levels, stronger coordination between education, welfare, and armed forces organisations is essential. Cross-sector monitoring and accountability systems are needed to ensure continuity of support, track children’s needs, and avoid service fragmentation.
Policy frameworks should also recognise non-serving parents as co-beneficiaries of support systems, since caregiver wellbeing directly influences children’s emotional stability and development. Investment in community hubs, digital communication platforms, and feedback mechanisms can bridge existing service gaps and enhance cooperation among families, schools, and local organisations. Ultimately, a sustainable rights-based framework requires that institutions not only respond to children’s emotional needs but empower them as co-constructors of supportive environments—shifting from a model of protection to one of participation.
Future research should include younger age groups and different regional contexts, employing participatory and longitudinal designs to explore long-term outcomes in rights realisation.
My thanks to NGO Forces Children Scotland and of course, to all the children, young people, parents, carers and professional colleagues who supported the study.
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