Aim and objectives. To provide knowledge about how immigrant parents of children with complex health needs manage their family lives and how this affects their own health and quality of life.Background. Caregivers of children with complex health needs have additional risk for

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Daily life with children who have complex health needs can be stressful for parents.Immigrant parents are vulnerable to stress because they may lack language skills and knowledge about the health care system, and have limited social networks. In this study, we focus on how immigrant parents of children with complex health needs use emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies to manage their daily life, and how their self-efficacy and the immigration process may affect their coping. This qualitative study had an exploratory design with individual and focus group interviews. The sample comprised 27 parents-18 mothers and nine fathers-from Pakistan, Poland and Vietnam. The findings indicated that the parents' love for their child helps them to cope in their daily life. Newly arrived migrants, single mothers with a severely ill child who lacked support and migrant parents with language difficulties struggle to cope. Some of the stress is related to personal, social and structural problems, and to the insufficient resources available to meet the child's needs. The parents used both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies. The parents noted that access to both universal and selective welfare services is an important factor that contributed to their self-efficacy and coping.

This article discusses Norway's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in relation to the field of asylum. In particular, we explore the dilemmas and challenges posed by efforts to realise children's right to express their views and have these views given due weight in decision‐making processes as stipulated in Article 12 of the CRC. The Norwegian authorities have sought to uphold this right through the introduction of ‘child conversations’ within the asylum process. As we explain, children's participation may be crucial in terms of revealing persecution and thus the need for protection in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention. However, the early experience of implementing child conversations suggests limited usefulness—indeed the practice may be questioned in the light of the primary obligation of states parties to the CRC to attend to children's best interests. Drawing upon experience from Sweden, the article offers suggestions for how the pursuit of children's participation within the Norwegian asylum system might be developed to ensure that it genuinely serves their best interests.