The work reported in this paper extends and refines the observations by James Robertson (1953) on which his concepts of protest, despair, and denial were based. These phases were explicitly attached to separation from the mother when aggravated by strange environment, confinement to cot, multiple caretakers, and other stress factors associated with institutional care.

This paper describes how a total sample of 13 young children (17 months to 2 years 5 months) coped with separation from the mother when cared for in conditions from which the adverse factors which complicate institutional studies were absent. Four were fostered by the Robertsons and 9 were looked after in their own homes by a familiar relative. Separations ranged from 10 to 27 days.