How Long Must They Be Alone? The Experience of Unaccompanied Minors and Implications for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Unaccompanied minors often face severe trauma during their preflight lives as well as during the course of their migration. These traumatic experiences can have negative psychosocial impacts on the minors, and hostile reception policies in destination countries exacerbate their hardships. Though social work services are traditionally undervalued in the areas of asylum and resettlement, the discipline has much to offer in terms of practice, programming, and policy. The complexity of circumstances in which children become unaccompanied, as well as the diverse needs of the children themselves, mean that no single country, discipline, or agency can solve the problem individually. Complementary skills should be coordinated and international mandates must be established in a concerted effort to respond to this issue. There is a need for more research to determine the psychosocial issues of unaccompanied minors and identify best practices for social workers in destination countries to provide direct services and advocacy for this population.