Although there is growing interest in the ways that cultural practice, resource availability, and social identity mediate individual decisions regarding childrearing, many quantitative analyses of parental investment remain anchored in discussions of variables that can be more easily operationalized, such as hours spent co-sleeping and duration of breastfeeding. Using original data gathered in Manchester Parish, Jamaica, I analyze qualitative evidence to explore diversity in forms of caretaker investment received by children living in two different settings: state-regulated children’s homes and familial residences. I also investigate whether these differences in care received are correlated to variability in child growth and psychosocial development. What presents as individual choice or cultural practice reflects decisions that are structured by the integration of Caribbean communities in the global market, gendered migration, and the legacies of colonialism. This bio-cultural study of human familial systems and child thriving reflects my central interest in women and children’s understandings of their own lives, and the relationship between social identity and health.

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