Constructing Viable Futures as ‘Adults’

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
Elaine Chase ◽  
Jennifer Allsopp
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Vulnerable Child ◽  
Multiple Uncertainties ◽  
Policies And Practices

This chapter investigates how young people seek to construct viable futures through the process of migration. While many young people arriving in England, and to some extent in Italy, alluded to the expanding futures emerging in Europe, they frequently saw these new horizons shrinking as they approached adulthood, particularly if they still had uncertain legal status. At the juncture between institutionally defined childhood and adulthood, the notion of vulnerability, used by immigration and social care structures and systems as a sorting mechanism for deciding who is and is not eligible to support, takes on very different economic, social, and political meanings. No longer meeting the institutional criteria of the 'vulnerable child', young people may paradoxically become more vulnerable as they encounter the multiple uncertainties of having an undetermined immigration status or, even when they do have status, are propelled towards independence with little preparation or support. Refocusing the lens away from individualized factors and circumstances typically associated with vulnerability towards more fundamental questions of the precarity forces a reconsideration of policies and practices and how they fundamentally determine young people's wellbeing outcomes, and whether or not they can construct the sorts of futures they aspire to.

Seeking Sanctuary: Exploring the Changing Postcolonial and Racialised Politics of Belonging in East London

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 102-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamser Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Skin Colour ◽  
Local Resistance ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores the changing postcolonial and racialised politics of belonging in East London. In particular it draws on research with multi-sector professionals and 15 to 18 year old young separated migrants. Separated from parents, these teenagers include those who had applied for asylum and were living under social services care as ‘unaccompanied’ and those living with their extended family. It also includes separated migrants wanting sanctuary, but who had insecure immigration status because their asylum claim had failed, or because they had not yet applied for asylum and had no other visa status. The research focuses on healthcare issues and the broader life-situations of young separated migrants as a way to examine the changing politics of belonging in East London. Features of this politics include a rise in popularity of the Far Right, the impact of immigration and healthcare legislation and practice, and racial hostility. As well as looking at this, there is an exploration of resistance to this racialised political context by teenagers and certain professionals, and the struggle for a convivial multiculture that is a feature of their resistance. The argument here is that the changing racialised politics of belonging in East London: (1) show how underdevelopment, geo-political and postcolonial forces contribute to shaping local experiences of racism (2) sometimes involves, rather than aggressively targets, British citizens from NCWP (New Commonwealth and Pakistani) backgrounds and their descendants, as skin colour becomes less of an articulated symbol of ‘otherness’ than immigration status (3) therefore excludes ‘new migrants’ and especially those seeking sanctuary, such as the young people in this paper, from belonging (4) faces local resistance. However resistance to this politics might be better informed by a greater understanding of how postcolonialism shapes local racism and militates against a convivial multiculture, with sociology playing a role in accomplishing this

Asylum rejected: ‘appeal rights exhausted' Afghan care leavers facing return

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Robinson ◽  
Lucy Williams
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Care Leavers ◽  
Dangerous Place ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Care System

Kim Robinson and Lucy Williams focus on young Afghan men’s asylum claims in terms of their family background, citizenship and immigration status within the Care system under vulnerability. All young Afghans have had their asylum claims considered classified as Appeals Rights Exhausted and face return to Afghanistan. The chapter reveals how young Afghans’ narratives speak of a dangerous place where they have no links or connections yet at the same time, their description of the UK is often negative and critical of the support they have received here. The findings illustrate how immigration policies impact on marginality and affect the daily lives of these young people who are caught between two unpalatable futures, one back in Afghanistan and one living in destitution and illegality in the UK.

scholarly journals Invisible students: institutional invisibility and access to education for undocumented children

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Meloni ◽  
Cécile Rousseau ◽  
Alexandra Ricard-Guay ◽  
Jill Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Community Partnership ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
Policies And Practices

Purpose In Canada, undocumented children are “institutionally invisible” – their access to education to be found in unwritten and discretionary practices. Drawing on the experience of a three-year university-community partnership among researchers, institutional and community stakeholders, the purpose of this paper is to examine how undocumented children are constructed as excluded from school. Design/methodology/approach The establishment of this collaborative research space, helped to critically understand how this exclusion was maintained, and highlighted contradictory interpretations of policies and practices. Findings Proposing the analytical framework of “institutional invisibility”, the authors argue that issues of access and entitlement for undocumented children have to be often understood within unwritten and ambiguous policies and practices that make the lives of young people invisible to the institutional entities with which they interact. Originality/value The notion of institutional invisibility allows the authors to integrate the missing link between questions of access and deservingness. The paper also reflects on the role of action research in both documenting dynamics and pathways of institutional invisibility, as well as in initiating social change – as both horizontal, and vertical mobilisation.

scholarly journals Governance of the table: Regulation of food and eating practices in residential care for young people

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
Deirdre Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
External Regulation ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Government ◽  
Eating Practices

Abstract This paper explores how food and eating practices are governed in residential care for young people and who or what governs the table in residential care centres. The governance of everyday food and eating practices in residential care is multifaceted and conducted on multiple levels by external and internal authority and regulation. This paper draws on Coveney’s 2008 theory on ‘the government of the table’ that builds on the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality to explore the interplay between internal and external regulation, which in turn highlights the tensions between institutional and homely aspects of residential care. The approach taken involves an exploratory, sequential mixed-methods design of focused ethnography in five centres, a survey of ninety-two social care practitioners working in the field and a review of Health Information and Quality Authority inspection reports.

scholarly journals Young People’s Voice: The First Visiting Advocacy Project in Italian Residential Care for Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (15) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Valentina Calcaterra ◽  
Maria Luisa Raineri
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Looked After Children ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Children’S Homes ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Listening Process

This article presents the research of the project Giving Young People a Voice: Advocacy in Children’s Homes, set up as a result of the interest of a nonprofit organization working with looked-after children, with an aim to improve advocacy as a listening process and to promote the participation of children that reside in children’s homes. The research focused on the implementation of a visiting advocacy project and the activities carried out by an independent advocate working in children’s homes. The children’s evaluation of the project was collected by two focus groups; interviews were conducted with social care workers and the manager of the organization. This research deals with the implementation of the first visiting advocacy project in the context of the Italian child protection system.

Transition from paediatric to adult healthcare for young people with cystic fibrosis: Parents’ information needs

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 646-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imelda Coyne ◽  
Helen Malone ◽  
Emma Chubb ◽  
Alison E While
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Young People ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Child Health Services ◽  
Adult Health

Parents of young people with cystic fibrosis (YPWCF) play an important role during the transition from paediatric to adult health services. There is limited evidence on parental information needs and the extent to which they are met. An online survey was conducted targeting a finite population of 190 parents of YPWCF in Ireland. Fifty-nine parents responded (31% response rate). Parents reported the need for more general preparation and timing of the transfer, more information regarding the differences between adult and child health services and how their child will self-manage his/her illness in the future. Most parents received information on the timing of transfer and new healthcare providers but reported being insufficiently informed about their legal status relating to medical confidentiality for their adult child and community resources available for their child after transition to adult health services. The findings highlight the importance of information and preparation for caregivers as well as young people to promote successful transition to adult healthcare. Providing parents with clear information and anticipatory guidance are simple changes in practice that may lead to improvements in transition experiences.

An Examination of How Legal Status Affects Enrollment and Graduation Rates

2019 ◽  
pp. 130-148
Author(s):  
Florence Nyemba
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
The United States ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Immigration Reform ◽  
Immigration Status ◽  
College Degrees ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Large Numbers

This chapter explores the educational choices of immigrants and how the issue of legal or immigration status contributes to social inequality in the United States classrooms and institutions of higher learning. Immigrants within U.S. population have increased dramatically, yet their educational attainment remains small in comparison to native-born Americans. Although large numbers of immigrant students graduate from high school, their path to higher education remains difficulty with fewer getting college degrees. Drawing on literature from multiple disciplines, the issue of immigration status in relation to immigrant education is examined. The chapter recommends the adoption of immigration reform legislations that create better pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and progressive educational provisions. This chapter benefits immigrants and educational leaders in institutions of higher learning.

Legal Integrity and Recognition

2020 ◽  
pp. 93-112
Author(s):  
Elaine Chase ◽  
Jennifer Allsopp
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Building Block ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Legal Recognition ◽  
Immigration Control ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines the centrality of legal status as a building block for security and constructing a future in Europe. It engages with the realities of living with or without legal recognition in England and Italy and the impact this has on young people. The chapter considers these experiences within international and national frameworks of young people's rights and 'best interests'. It also looks at the serendipitous ways in which access to such rights are in fact socially constructed. As the chapter highlights, the arbitrary allocation of papers generates an inequitable set of life opportunities, or capabilities, as unaccompanied migrant young people become adults within the constraints of immigration control.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Elaine Chase ◽  
Jennifer Allsopp
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Unaccompanied Children ◽  
Youth Migration ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This introductory chapter provides an overview of youth migration. Youth migration needs to be understood in relation to its negative drivers of persecution, violence, and unsustainable lives in countries of origin, factors that motivated the flights of many young people. But at the same time, there is a need to recognize that such adversity also fuels individual and collective dreams and aspirations for better lives. Without acknowledging this, politicians will struggle to formulate meaningful and workable asylum and immigration policies. The chapter then briefly outlines the differing journeys that young people took in order to arrive in Europe. The chapter explains that the book focuses on how asylum, immigration, and social care procedures are operationalized once unaccompanied children and young people arrive in the UK and Italy, and the impact that these bureaucratic processes have on them over time.

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