On moving children: The social implications of Andean child circulation

In this article, I draw from ethnographic research in Ayacucho, Peru, to describe how rural-to-urban migrants move children between houses as part of a common survival and betterment strategy in the context of social and economic inequality. Such "child circulations" produce and strengthen kinship and are an important part of local family-making efforts. My investigation of child circulation grounds a critical assessment of Peru's globalized adoption system, which implicitly denaturalizes the parenting of poor, indigenous Peruvians.