The disappearance of people is a complex phenomenon that raises ambiguous feelings such as hope/despair, sadness, guilt, anger and helplessness. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the disappearance of a child, under unknown circumstances, from the mothers` perspectives. Eleven mothers with children disappeared mysteriously participated in the survey, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, between 2002 and 2005. The children were between 11 months and 11 years old at the time of the disappearance. Semi-structured interviews were performed and, from the technical analysis of content, the data were grouped into 4 categories, named: 1) impact of the disappearance, 2) relationship with husband / partner / boyfriend / father of the child, 3) relationships with other children, 4) facing the disappearance: facilitators and complications. It was found that, before the sudden and mysterious disappearance of their children, all participants initially had reactions of denial, shock, numbness, despair and fear. After the initial shock, reactions of anxiety and feelings of guilt, helplessness, disbelief, sadness and anger were said, as opposed to feelings of hope, faith, determination and certainty of meeting again the disappeared child. The interviewees also felt helplessness by their husbands / partners, because they hoped to express their mourning in the same way as them, considering them unsuitable and negligent for not acting equally. Regarding to the other children, note that, if on the one hand, some mothers have become overprotective, there are cases where they neglected them. It is concluded, finally, that for these mothers, factors such as the lack of certainty about how and where the child is, the lack of rituals, the indefinite extension of the situation and the judgment of other people (especially by other mothers) can contribute negatively to the process of coping. Furthermore, the formation of groups with mothers of missing children and the possibility of sharing feelings presents itself an important resource for the restructuring and reorganization of these women.