Unaccompanied Migrant Youth Research Articles

Exploring mediation through creativity: ethnography, theatre and cinema with Maghrebi unaccompanied migrant youth in Barcelona

ABSTRACT At the crossroads between artistic creation, academia and marginalised youth, we can find a space for cultural mediation through collaborative creative practices. In this article we present the ethnographic results of a fieldwork conducted in Barcelona during theatre workshops with young unaccompanied immigrants from North Africa. The workshop was an experience of personal, intra-group and intercultural mediation through creativity, during which relationships of affection and care were established that allowed for a deeper understanding of migration, daily life, personal goals, and friendship. This process developed an ethnographic approach based on collaboration between all the actors involved, characterised by a number of innovative features: a more horizontal position between researchers and research subjects; ‘place’ as the central axis of the ethnographic relationship; the body and affect as the ground for generating processes of trust, care and respect between those involved. Here we present findings on the methods employed and the agency of the participants, highlighting the role of theatre practices in creating conditions for non-paternalistic and non-stigmatising experiences of mediation. Finally, this ethnographic approach is of great value in working with marginalised young people: to generate better bonds of trust and space to give voice and enunciate their life situations.

The Impact of Trauma and Intergenerational Trauma on Unaccompanied Migrant Youth

The Impact of Trauma and Intergenerational Trauma on Unaccompanied Migrant Youth

Growing up in transit. Personal development and resistance of migrant adolescents travelling through Mexico unaccompanied

Mexico is a major global migration corridor. The last decade has seen an increase in adolescents travelling unaccompanied from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, mainly due to violence and natural disasters. This group of migrants is exposed to migration risks such as trafficking and exploitation, as well as multiple deportations and long waiting times without appropriate access to health and education services. These conditions have significant documented adverse impacts on health and mental health, but the impact on personal development has been less explored. Thus, this article aims to explore the impact of migration transit on identity and resilience of unaccompanied migrant youth, psychosocial mental health constructs that are important for wellbeing and personal development. Through 47 semi-structured interviews conducted with migrant youth and different migration workers in summer 2021 in two migrant shelters in Mexico City and Guadalajara, we found that possibilities for identity building for migrant youth were restricted in a context of curbed freedom. Violence and poverty led to loss of crucial formative years, pushing many to aspire only to work – regardless of the type of work. Resilience overlapped with resistance but was generally maintained with cultural narratives of goal achievement, faith and hope. Strong responsibility towards sending remittances to family made family one of the main goals of the migration journey. Workers highlighted how regional migration management, underlined by discriminatory policies which place profit and national security ideology before a recognition of common humanity, is a considerable barrier to funding services and advancing access to rights for youth. However, youth showed recognition of their own agency and humanity, which represents an important basis on which to build a counter-discriminatory vision and management of this migration. Results are reported according to COREQ guidelines.

Containing futures: the governance of youths’ migratory aspirations in comparative context

ABSTRACT This article traces how aspirations management interventions – specifically those that accompanied the United States-Mexico Southern Border Program of 2014 and the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding of 2017 – influence young people’s aspirations and decisions to migrate. The article details three typologies of aspiration management specific to migrant children and youth: child protection interventions, awareness and education campaigns, and development initiatives. Drawing from ethnographic research with unaccompanied migrant youth in Guatemala and Italy, this paper examines how young people understand and consider these programmes when deciding whether and under what conditions to migrate transnationally. Analysing aspiration management programmes alongside young people reveals that these interventions do not deter young people’s migratory decisions, yet do shape who, how and under what conditions they move. A cross-regional case study analysis extends the scholarship on border externalisation as a physical and administrative deterrent to examine how aspiration management has become a critical mode of migration governance of young people.

Peer Counseling in a Community Based Intervention for Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth

Abstract BodyUaccompanied migrant youth represent an at-risk population given the complexity of negotiating adolescence in a new culture, isolated from family and friends, without a secure base and subject to discrimination. In addition, many unaccompanied migrant youth have been subject to considerable trauma prior to, during, and post migration. In Spain, as in many countries, the residential, care, and mental health services are not adapted to the specific and complex needs of this population, and to that end complex not only are the youth not well served but providers are increasingly frustrated. The figure of the community health agent has been widely recognized as one that can function as an effective bridge between systems/institutions and marginalized and vulnerable populations. In this presentation we will describe an ongoing project that trains unaccompanied migrant youth who show promise in their cultural adaptation in the areas of cultural competence, mental health care and substance abuse to function as community health agents (or peer counselors) consistent with models of cultural consultation.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Mentoring for Improving the Self-Esteem, Resilience, and Hope of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

In the last few years, the number of unaccompanied youths arriving in Europe has increased steadily. During their settlement in host countries, they are exposed to a great variety of vulnerabilities, which have an impact on their mental health. This research examines the effects of participation in a mentoring programme on the psychological and educational outcomes among unaccompanied migrant youths who live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Data in this mixed-methods study were obtained from 44 surveys with mentored (treatment group) and non-mentored (control group) male youths who had recently turned 18, as well as through thirty semi-structured interviews with mentored youths, their adult mentors, and non-mentored youths. Our findings indicated that participation in the mentoring programme improved the mentored youths’ self-esteem, resilience, and hope, as well as their desired or expected educational outcomes in this new context. We conclude that well-targeted and problem-specific mentoring programmes have positive and marked effects on unaccompanied migrant youths’ mental health. The social and political implications of these outcomes are also discussed, providing information on how interventions can offer effective networks of support for the settlement and social inclusion of unaccompanied migrant youths.

The uneven geography of asylum and humanitarian relief: place-based precarity for Central American migrant youth in the United States judicial system

ABSTRACT The rising number of unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) crossing the U.S.-Mexico border received intense media attention during 2014 and remains significant. Unaccompanied minors seeking relief through the immigration court system is at a record high. A crisis of legal representation and of disparity in granting asylum or other humanitarian relief across Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration courts and among individual judges creates an unequal geographical landscape of justice for young migrants/asylum-seekers. This study uses empirical data from over 232,000 UMC cases to analyse the effect that place of residence has on access to a fair court hearing. This research adds to previous studies by emphasising the importance of place for unaccompanied minors who have been released to sponsors across the United States. Given that court adjudications vary considerably from judge to judge and across courts; and that access to legal resources differs from city to city and across regions – where a UMC resides has a major impact on the likelihood of a fair hearing. This finding has major implications for understanding how locality impacts unaccompanied minor migrant youth precarity.

Exploring the Responsibilities of Street-Level Bureaucrats through the Perspectives of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth and Their Sponsors

ABSTRACTBetween 2014 and 2019, more than 300,000 unaccompanied youth arrived at U.S.-Mexico border. Responsible for the implementation of immigration policy, street-level bureaucrats regularly interact with many of these youth as they navigate the immigration system. In each of these interactions along a complicated immigration process, street-level bureaucrats have a range of responsibilities with the youth. This paper considers the potential impact of street-level bureaucrats’ interactions with unaccompanied minors through the questions: 1) How do unaccompanied minors and their sponsors experience interactions with street-level bureaucrats related to the unaccompanied minors’ migration process; and 2) How do these experiences overlap with the responsibilities of public servants who implement US immigration policy?

The limits of freedom: migration as a space of freedom and loneliness among Afghan unaccompanied migrant youth

ABSTRACTThis article examines how unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan experience migration as a space of both freedom and loneliness situated between competing moral frameworks: family projects, neoliberal discourses of independence, and a quest for new ways of being. While migration is devised as a family strategy to financially sustain the household, it also creates new desires for young people: to study, to have fun, and to fulfil individual goals. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the UK, I analyse how youth find themselves caught in moments of moral crisis as both an ethical dilemma and an experience of self-transformation – caused by the tensions between family expectations, social policies, and a search for independence. I argue that young people often struggle to find the moral ground to exercise freedom and to make the good choice, without the guidance of their parents and within neoliberal politics of self-governance. This article considers youth’s aspirations and imaginaries of ‘good life’ within different communities of belonging, and it highlights the importance of the role of kinship for understanding how youth conceptualise their future, and ultimately exercise choice.

Running to stand still: Trauma symptoms, coping strategies, and substance use behaviors in unaccompanied migrant youth

From October 2013 to July 2016, over 156,000 children traveling without their guardians were apprehended at the US-Mexico border. Although these unaccompanied youth have received substantial media attention, little is known about their health and well-being. The current study implemented a concurrent, parallel mixed methods research design, whereby quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus groups) data were collected simultaneously to explore: (a) the frequency of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, suicidal ideation, and substance use, (b) trauma exposure at pre-migration, migration, and post-migration, and (c) how youth may cope with these adversities. Thirty unaccompanied migrant youth were recruited from middle and high schools. An equal proportion of female and male participants from Honduras (n = 10), Guatemala (n = 8), México (n = 6), and El Salvador (n = 6) completed survey and focus group protocols. Over one-half of the sample met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (56.7%), 30% met the criteria for major depressive disorder, and 30% reported suicidal ideation in the past year. While most youth reported no or infrequent substance use, they indicated having easy access to nearly all substances. Qualitative data revealed that youth faced persistent trauma exposure, including family separation, family and community violence, a lack of institutional protection, and pervasive poverty. Coping strategies related to mental health and substance use outcomes. Social withdrawal and avoidant coping were related to posttraumatic stress disorder, higher depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, while adaptive coping strategies were protective against substance use. Unaccompanied youth flee their counties of origin to escape extreme violence and reunite with family. In the U.S., they report unresolved trauma and grief. If left untreated, these can be risk factors for mental illness and disability in adulthood. Reinforcing healthy coping may be an area where school and community providers can intervene to improve these youths' well-being.

Circulation of care among unaccompanied migrant youth from Guatemala

From ethnographic research with unaccompanied children in the United States and Guatemala, this paper explores emergent and, at times, conflicting narratives of care that young migrants encounter while in U.S. federal custody. They are depicted as ‘ideal’ victims deserving of care and simultaneously as unauthorized outlaws subject to state discipline via detention and deportation. In contrast, Guatemalan youth and their families speak of migration as a cultural elaboration of care in which they are agents of caregiving, employing transnational migration as a collective and historically-rooted survival strategy. By examining the multiple conceptualizations of care that young people encounter and embody, this paper problematizes theorizations of ‘care’ by tracing the conflicting meanings assigned to it. Informed by the perspectives of young migrants and their families, the paper suggests ways that service providers might better serve them.

Integration of unaccompanied migrant youth in the United States: a call for research

ABSTRACTBetween October 2013 and July 2016, over 156,000 children travelling without their guardians were apprehended at the U.S.–Mexico border and transferred to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). During that same period, ORR placed over 123,000 unaccompanied migrant youth – predominantly from Central America – with a parent or other adult sponsor residing in the U.S. Following placement, local communities are tasked with integrating migrant youth, many of whom experience pre- and in-transit migration traumas, family separation, limited/interrupted schooling, and unauthorised legal status, placing them at heightened risk for psychological distress, academic disengagement, maltreatment, and human trafficking. Nonetheless, fewer than 10% of young people receive formal post-release services (PRS). This paper addresses the paucity of research on the experiences of the 90% of children and youth without access to PRS. To bridge this gap, this article: (a) describes the post-release experiences of unaccompanied youth, focusing on legal, family, health, and educational contexts; (b) identifies methodological and ethical challenges and solutions in conducting research with this population of young people and their families; and (c) proposes research to identify structural challenges to the provision of services and to inform best practices in support of unaccompanied youth. [196 words]

Moving forward: Educational outcomes for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) exiting foster care in the United States

Unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied children have migrated to the Southern border of the United States in recent years. Yet, little is known about how these children fare after arrival, including the few who are placed in the federally sponsored Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) foster care programme. Existing research suggests that unaccompanied refugee children, unaccompanied migrant children and foster children each face significant barriers that limit their educational attainment. This study examines educational attainment for children exiting the URM programme in 2015 (n = 193). Longer stays in care are associated with higher educational attainment. Permanent legal status predicts increased high-school graduation rates, but not college enrolment. Significant variation emerged between children from the Northern Triangle region of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) compared with other countries of origin, as well as across countries within this region. These results are discussed in light of United States policies that may influence the educational attainment of unaccompanied migrant youth.

Reunification is Not Enough: Assessing the Needs of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth

Unaccompanied migrant youth enter the United States daily to escape violence, political oppression, extreme poverty, and chronic instability in their native countries, or as victims of human trafficking. While some research has investigated why they leave their home countries, very little is known about what happens to them after they begin the process of community integration. The research reported in this article sought to understand how sponsors of children with no postrelease services access and use community services during their first year of integration into a new U.S. community. Findings highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of family reunification and community integration as dynamic, ongoing processes rather than onetime events, and for services to support such integration.

Promoting Collaborative Relationships in Residential Care of Vulnerable and Traumatized Youth: a Playfulness Approach Integrated with Trauma Systems Therapy

Despite the importance of the therapeutic relationship between staff and youth in residential care, there is a dearth of information on how to improve the quality of those relationships. This evaluation study examined the impact of a play-based, trauma-informed training program for staff working in shelters for unaccompanied migrant youth. The play-based training is specifically designed to foster collaborative relationships and well-being among participants. We assessed staff’s beliefs about relational capacities, job satisfaction, and adverse incidents at four sites piloting the program, complemented by qualitative interviews. We found statistically significant improvement in group beliefs about safety, trust, intimacy, and control; group beliefs about the shelters’ capacity to address mental health issues; job satisfaction; and reduction in the incidence of restraints. These findings support the usefulness of therapeutic play-making skills for residential care staff working with vulnerable and traumatized youth, particularly when combined with clinical methods for addressing trauma.

The effect of systemic resilience training on stress and violence among shelter staff and unaccompanied migrant youth

The effect of systemic resilience training on stress and violence among shelter staff and unaccompanied migrant youth