The personal experience of educators from one Australian university in relation to boat people, comprising mothers and children in detention, is discussed within a Foucauldian theoretical framework. Media and political portrayal of refugees at times leads to 'us-and-them' conceptions of asylum seekers. This paper foregrounds the challenges of their lived experience while in detention, with a specific focus on children. The corollary highlights the pivotal role early childhood educators play when these children are granted visas and arrive in early childhood settings after years of incarceration. What belonging, being and becoming, as envisaged in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework, might mean for these children specifically as they become citizens of Australia, is examined through the findings of an action research study in a preschool and lower primary school with high refugee enrolment. Key to children's development is utilising play as the preferred pedagogy in the early years of formal schooling. (author abstract)