Child fostering within the kinship group, and sometimes to a non-related household, is a custom in many African societies that is well known to sociologists and anthropologists. Using the results of the 1992-1993 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) carried out in Senegal, Céline VANDERMEERSCH explores the economic and social implications of the practice as well as its role as a demographic regulator of family size. The analysis, which focuses on the very young, gains additional interest from its attention to the characteristics of both the out-fostering mothers and the foster families.