When people think about children outside their family and close friends, they commonly make basic needs the priorities. Food, shelter and services such as health and education come first.

When we think of children we have a close relationship with, it’s different. We see all their needs as important, immediate and interconnected.

People give as much priority to the higher-order needs as the basic needs of children they’re close to.

This thinking carries over into policymaking and intervention priorities in low and middle-income countries. As a result, many interventions in the lives of other people’s children, such as responses to a refugee crisis and alternative care for children, put basic needs first.

Our research in the fields of sociology and development economics suggests that children’s needs are not hierarchical and that they are best met by—and in—families. By drawing on examples from the literature, we outline how children’s various needs are equally important. Caring for them is therefore a balancing act, best done by those close to them: their families.