During the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002, an estimated 20,000 children were forced to join the fighting where they were ordered to kill a friend, relative, or neighbor under threat of being killed themselves. Boston College researcher Theresa Betancourt, the Salem Professor in Global Practice in the School of Social Work, has followed hundreds of these former child soldiers for more than two decades. Her study and the insights it offers on mental health and resilience are the focus of a new book, Shadows into Light: A Generation of Former Child Soldiers Comes of Age (Harvard University Press, 2025). Filled with vivid personal stories, Shadows into Light depicts heartbreak and despair, but also remarkable triumphs. According to Betancourt, the lives of the former child soldiers were shaped not just by their personal ordeals but also, crucially, by the responses of their families, peers, and broader communities. Read more in this author Q&A from BC News.