Unaccompanied migrant youth in the Nordic countries

This chapter explores the ambiguities and changes in regulations concerning unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors within, as well across, the Nordic countries, with regard to the gap between restrictions, new policies and practices on one hand, and the human rights standards set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in immigrant-related legislation on the other. The chapter focuses on Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The chapter draws on research combining studies on documents and legal analyses (human rights conventions, national laws, regulations and court cases); an analysis of quantitative data from immigration authorities to identify particular areas of concern; and qualitative research, including fieldwork and interviews with unaccompanied minors, staff in reception centres, legal guardians and immigration authorities. The chapter highlights the growth in the discourse and policy of stricter immigration regulations over the best interests of the child.

From individual vulnerability to collective resistance: responding to the emotional impact of trauma on unaccompanied children seeking asylum

Much good therapeutic work is done with individual separated young people seeking asylum to help them overcome the effects of trauma and abuse and to reconstruct their identities in unfamiliar settings. This chapter highlights the dangers to many of the individual trauma focused interventions where young people can become defined by their vulnerabilities, stuck in relationships which position them as damaged, vulnerable and needing help. It outlines a Narrative Liberation framework to enable practitioners to reflect on what they are doing in their care of separated young people, and to help guard against isolating and unhelpful therapeutic practices. This includes a recognition of past events, but also highlighting personal accounts of survival and resistance. A key element is connections with other unaccompanied young migrants and the facilitation of collective practices where people are able to connect with life affirming aspects of their cultural and social histories.

Preface to Section 2: Voices of separated migrant youth

Sue Clayton worked with separated refugee youths between 2006 and 2017 as a film-maker and academic, and as more recently as a consultant for the BBC, ITV News and Channel 4 News. She has interviewed over 200 young refugees. This preface draws out themes from these interviews and uses the young people’s own words to tell their stories. The participants have been anonymised for reasons of privacy. These narratives are told in the way the young people wished to tell them. Together they present a collective picture of typical life journeys - hopes, fears and aspirations - which can be read to inform and inflect the chapters that follow which focus on young people’s experiences within immigration and welfare systems.

Spaces of belonging and social care

Unaccompanied young migrants are in a precarious situation but despite this, they can and do create some feelings of belonging. This chapter explores the forms and spaces of belonging that young people create, and the ways in which social workers and others can support this process. It examines the concept of belonging in relation to an asylum system designed to exclude. Despite structural constraints, young people strive to create some spaces of belonging, including accommodation, schools and colleges, places of worship, social networks and local neighbourhoods. The chapter suggests how, through creative and assertive use of existing processes, social workers can stand alongside young people, challenge oppression, overcome barriers and strengthen their opportunities to create and sustain those experiences of belonging. The chapter concludes that although unaccompanied young people do, in many ways, create some spaces of belonging, unless structural inequalities are addressed these will be contingent, incomplete and fragile.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the issues faced by unaccompanied child migrants in their search for safety and security. It highlights legal definitions used in national and international law, and the rights that such young people can claim under those laws. It outlines the demography of flows of migrant youth, including numbers, nationalities, and gender. The diversity of the group is highlighted, along with the way in which their treatment and experiences vary significantly depending on how they are framed by the immigration and welfare authorities that they come into contact with. The chapter examines the role of a social justice framework in understanding migrant experiences, an acknowledgement of young people’s agency, and the role of social workers and others working with young people. The chapter finishes with an overview of the subsequent chapters divided into three main sections: framing the youth migrant debate, exploring migrant youth identities, and international perspectives.

Conclusion

This chapter draws together themes emerging from the preceding chapters, as well as identifying policy recommendations. It starts by highlighting the insights drawn from the cross-disciplinary approach adopted in the book. It then moves on to stress the social justice and human rights perspective, including the implications of how unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are framed by the authorities that are dealing with their cases. It discusses the need to acknowledge and support young people in exercising their agency, albeit within the confines of structural inequalities. The chapter then provides policy recommendations including the implementation of current laws and guidelines, and a review of age assessment processes. The chapter concludes with examples of new practices and new critical thinking that have emerged in the face of challenges associated with supporting unaccompanied young migrants in recent years.

A relational approach to unaccompanied minor migration, detention and legal protection in Mexico and the US

The chapter considers the state systems of protection for unaccompanied migrant minors in Mexico and the United States. The transits and arrivals of Central American minors – from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – offer important opportunities for scholars to consider the sociolegal practices of migrant care, especially how legally-accepted but institutionally-unfulfilled claims might signify something more than system failures. Instead this chapter takes the law and state institutions as sites for power relations to play out, rather than as outcomes of legislative power struggles or as resources for mutual claims by states and individuals. The aim of the chapter is to analyse the distinctive – and perhaps constitutive – tensions that govern state systems of protection for unaccompanied minors, looking to both legal texts and the empirical realities of state activities in Mexico and the United States.

‘Durable solutions’ when turning 18

The chapter considers the life options open to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have sought asylum alone and have reached the legal definition of adulthood in their country of residence. In such situations, most young people will have a limited range of opportunities open to them. The chapter considers how the UNHCR’s ‘durable solutions’ and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child have been understood in relation to young asylum seekers and refugees, and the often uncomfortable classification of children within political asylum frameworks. It reviews how social workers and other advocates have approached the difficult business of preparing young people for a range of uncertain futures, and includes evidence from young people themselves. The chapter concludes with a section on best practice, recognising the agency of young people and emphasising the ongoing obligations of professionals and informal advocates to young people who have been through the care system.

Dilemmas and conflicts in the legal system

It has long been recognised that unaccompanied child asylum seekers are a particularly vulnerable sub-section of an already vulnerable population. Yet despite this recognition, child asylum seekers coming to the UK face particular obstacles in making out their claims for asylum. This chapter explores recent developments in the UK’s approach to children seeking asylum. The chapter considers how despite well-written guidelines and public awareness of the specific protection needs of children from conflict zones, the asylum system has, in many cases, failed to provide durable solutions for child refugees. It considers the legal obstacles that young asylum seekers face, including assessments of credibility, the provision of legal aid, and delays in decision making.

Life (forever) on hold: unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in Australia

This chapter describes the situation of unaccompanied children who have sought asylum and are living in Australia. The chapter highlights changing immigration policy towards unaccompanied children, and the outcome of an increasingly restrictive regime. It critiques their treatment within a human rights and rights of the child framework and discuss the challenges and dilemmas faced by service providers charged with the care and supervision of these children. It concludes with some reflections on models of care that address young people’s needs, promote their rights and challenge the broader political and policy context that impacts so determinately on these children and young adults current well-being and on their futures.