The aim of this paper is to make the contention that there is a connection between the phenomena of recognition, identity and social integration. My hypothesis is based on interviews with several groups of refugee children who have come to Norway at different times--Jewish children (1938), Hungarian children (1956), a Tibetan group (1964) and a multiethnic group (1990). Recognition is a central concept in understanding the fundamental processes that occur between refugee children and their new environments. These processes incorporate both the care offered by the primary care group and issues concerning intercultural communication, as well as government refugee policy. These processes necessarily have consequences for identity formation and the social integration of these children.