Unaccompanied minors’ needs and the child welfare response

Abstract

Summary This study examines a sample of 1705 cases of unaccompanied and separated children (UASCs) included in a pilot project for early recovery child protection intervention. The project was started in two Southern Italian regions; multidisciplinary teams ensured an immediate intervention at the moment of disembarkation, working on children engagement and need assessment. Data were gathered about minors’ characteristics and services activated. Descriptive information was selected to develop a profile of cases and bivariate analysis was used to assess the relationship between case characteristics and outcomes. Findings The UASCs belong to 38 different nationalities, forming a very diverse group in terms of culture, reasons for leaving their country and past experiences, most of them traumatic. A high number of children were victims of torture, maltreatment, and human trafficking. The empirical evidence highlights that, at the end of the intervention, the majority of UASCs were still hosted in first-level facilities that could respond to basic needs only. Second-level centres were not always equipped to promote their integration process. Applications Findings suggest that even if an early child protection intervention to identify children’s strengths and vulnerabilities was crucial for the children engagement, a parallel action for advocacy at national and European level needs to be carried out to raise awareness about human rights violations, the complexity of these minors’ needs, and the necessity to promote adequate services in the reception system, giving voice to these children.

Protection of unaccompanied child and adolescent migrants in Catalonia: Inhabited places, occupied places or non-places?

“…Their work is to make a preliminary analysis of the youths' migration project, to assess their situation, and to place them in other reception services or with the family if present in Spain. The stay of these young people in these facilities, however, is being lengthened considerably, as has also occurred in other countries, such as Italy (Sanfelici et al, 2021), such that they have become primary reception centers in which a work dynamic arises that seeks to homogenize the outcomes of reception and guardianship (Gimeno, 2017).…”

“…The first focuses on services for the identification, reception, and integration of young migrants; and the second delves deeper into the inhabited places, the services, and the spaces occupied, both physically and symbolically. The social and political context of asylum seekers arriving in Catalonia and neighboring countries began to change in 2015, due to the so-called “refugee crisis” (Sanfelici et al, 2021; Wernesjö, 2019).…”

Child protection social workers in Italy and the Covid‐19 challenges: Redefining services to support children and their families

“…The survey conducted by Sanfelici et al (2020) identified three macro-areas of intervention in which social workers introduced new work practices to respond to the social needs generated by the confinement: promotion of dialogue and discussion with families on experiences and frustrations, often connected to economic issues; greater collaboration with other services and families to support children and young people in distance learning and in the management of free time (such as recreational activities, online workshops); and increased support to parents and parent-child relationships.…”

Unaccompanied or Separated Migrant Children and Adolescents at the Colombian–Venezuelan Border: Loss of the Social Moratorium and Its Implications

“…These negative experiences can also result in the dismantling of the social fabric they had built in their country of origin, making it difficult to rebuild these spaces in the new context. Such challenges can hinder the socialization processes necessary for their growth and the development of a healthy personality (Álvarez-Izazaga et al 2022;Reyes Gutiérrez 2021;Estalayo et al 2021;Romero-Rodríguez et al 2021;Sultanic 2021;Brantl et al 2021;Topalovic et al 2021;Sanfelici et al 2021).…”