Asylum-seeking unaccompanied children and youngsters are situated at the crossroads between exclusionary and repressive asylum policies, on the one hand, and relatively inclusive and caring child ...welfare policies, on the other. This is the ‘asylum-child welfare paradox’ (Dursun and Sauer 2021). In this article, we explore the role of affect, feelings, and emotions in how unaccompanied minors respond to and process but also co-construct and resist this structural paradox through their ‘affective narratives’ (Bargetz and Eggers 2022). Based on qualitative interviews conducted with (former) unaccompanied minors in Austria in 2015, we observe that minors mobilize a set of feelings of fear, disappointment, frustration, and uncertainty due to experiences of rejection or loss of control; but unaccompanied minors also express feelings of confidence, joy, hope, and solidarity vis-à-vis their new environment and their future. Furthermore, the highly affective issues of belonging and non-belonging to their host country, of proximity and distance to other human beings hold an important place in their narratives as well as the ordering of time. We conclude that, rather than merely reacting to paradoxes that structure their social positions, minors actively shape such paradoxes and render them tangible and workable by means of narrating contradictory feelings and emotions and by mobilizing affectivity.
Partiendo del texto de Javier de Lucas de 2021 “Sobre el autoritarismo y discursos de odio”, este texto fija la mirada en el resurgimiento de los discursos xenófobos en la política actual, en el ...retorno al discurso nosotros y ellos, específicamente en el caso de los menores no acompañados.
Research has largely focused on 'unaccompanied minors' as a vulnerable group at risk of developing psychological problems that affect their health. Separation from primary caregivers is considered ...one of the foremost reasons for these young people's proposed loneliness. Thus, the official and ascribed identity is that they are lonely and that loneliness is their major problem. But research has seldom given the young people themselves an opportunity to express their views in an attempt to trace the often situational, dynamic and complex nature of social and emotional life. The present article analyses how 'unaccompanied minors' talk about everyday life and themes related to loneliness. The authors followed 23 'unaccompanied minors' during a period of a year through ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews. Results: Loneliness may occur when these young people experience lack of control in managing life and when they feel no one grieves for them; loneliness may be dealt with by creating new social contacts and friends; loneliness may be reinforced or reduced in encounters with representatives from 'the system'; the young people may experience frustration about being repeatedly labeled 'unaccompanied' and they may create a resistance to and critical reflexivity towards this labeling.
The number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden continues to rise. The majority are placed in residential care units. This qualitative study aims to increase the understanding given by the ...professionals to the concept of ‘home’ within the framework of residential care for unaccompanied young people. Data are based on participatory observations at two residential care units, followed up by individual interviews with staff. The findings confirm that the concept of home has a complex meaning involving both objective aspects such as physical buildings, and more subjective components that can be seen as state of mind. The staff's desire to offer an ‘ordinary home’ fails because of the surveillance, their dominant positions and especially due to the legal restrictions that were not initially meant for this target group. Unaccompanied young people have to be considered based on their own specific needs in order to make it possible for society to offer the most suitable care.
The number of refugee youth worldwide receives international attention and is a top priority in both academic and political agendas. This article adopts a critical eye in summarizing current ...epidemiological knowledge of refugee youth mental health as well as interventions aimed to prevent or reduce mental health problems among children and adolescents in both high- and low-to-middle-income countries. We highlight current challenges and limitations of extant literature and present potential opportunities and recommendations in refugee child psychiatric epidemiology and mental health services research for moving forward. In light of the mounting xenophobic sentiments we are presently witnessing across societies, we argue that, as a first step, all epidemiological and intervention research should advocate for social justice to guarantee the safety of and respect for the basic human rights of all refugee populations during their journey and resettlement. A constructive dialogue between scholars and policy makers is warranted.
This paper sheds light on the ambiguous position of children who migrate without a parent or guardian as they become adults in the European Union (EU). Through a critical analysis of three prevailing ...frames ('best interests', 'durable solutions' and 'belonging'), which largely inform policy and practice related to this group, it explores the tension between policy assumptions and what we know of the lived experiences and aspirations of these young people. It ultimately reveals a policy framework shaped by a state-centric view of migration, a static conception of belonging and a bias towards a political preference for return. Such a stance underestimates young people's agency and willingness to embrace risk in their efforts to secure a viable future. The net result is policy which fails to offer a 'durable solution' or act in the 'best interests' of individual migrant young people or of society as a whole.
To this date, there is a lack of data on the absolute number of people who became refugees in 2017. There are reasons to assume, though, that the global situation regarding flight and migration has ...not changed significantly since we published Part I of this special issue on “Unaccompanied Minors in Europe” in the fall of 2017. However, there seem to be new trends with regard to refugees seeking asylum in the EU, generally, and concerning those young people who arrive and live in Europe under the label of being an unaccompanied minor (UAM). This applies to various constituents. For example, the refugee routes currently seem to be changing; the number of young people coming to Europe seems to be declining, policies are becoming more restrictive while at the same time formally putting forward the best interest of the child and, alongside this, the challenges for professionals dealing with UAM are obviously changing.
Unaccompanied minors (UM) entering Europe face significant psychosocial challenges. Uncertain residence situations, marginalization during the asylum process, and low levels of support increase their ...risk of developing mental health and drug use issues. However, little is known about drug involvement (using and dealing) in this group. This is the first study to investigate drug involvement among young adults who entered Europe as UM from their subjective perspectives. We conducted qualitative interviews with 11 Afghan men who came to Sweden as UM in 2015/2016 and had experience of using and/or selling drugs, and analyzed the transcripts based on grounded theory. Drug initiation usually occurred after arrival in Sweden and was related to peer influence. Using and selling fulfilled specific psychosocial functions including self-medication and money-making. ‘Not having a real life’ (being excluded from school, employment, and many social activities) emerged as a central motive for drug involvement. By using or selling drugs, feelings of social belonging and control over one's own life could be experienced. Long, uncertain asylum processes and social exclusion exacerbate the risk of UM and former UM using or selling drugs. Policy and intervention measures must focus on providing this group with support, social inclusion, and meaningful activities.
PDF
