Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sects and their children -- Sects, children, and society -- Leadership and discipline -- Points of conflict: the children of God and the state -- What happened?: the aftermath of growing up in a sectarian group -- What is perceived as successful socialization? -- The young members who stay -- The young members who leave -- Support -- In the wilderness.

Children born and raised on the religious fringe are a distinctive yet largely unstudied social phenomenon -they are irreversibly shaped by the experience having been thrust into a radical religious culture by birth. The religious group is all encompassing. It accounts for their family, their school, social networks, and everything that prepares them for their adult life. The inclusion of a second generation of participants raises new concerns and legal issues. Perfect Children examines the ways new religious movements adapt to a second generation, how children are socialized, what happens to these children as they mature, and how their childhoods have affected them.