Therapeutic experience has suggested that there may be an association between parental loss and delinquency. Losses experienced by boys in care and their families were compared with losses experienced by control boys and their families. Boys in care had experienced significantly more losses through the death, divorce or separation of their parents than had control boys. The mothers of boys in care had also experienced significantly more losses when they were minors than any other group, including their sons. Maternal losses are significantly associated with boys being taken into care following legal proceedings.