Children and Migration

Millions of children around the world are affected by migration.  This includes girls and boys who migrate within and between countries (usually with their families but sometimes on their own), as well as children ‘left behind’ when their parents or caregivers migrate in search of economic opportunities.  Be it forced or voluntary, by adults or children, migration affects children’s care situations and can entail risks to their protection.

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Using data from the 2016 China Migrants Dynamic Survey and drawing on the theories of family migration, push-pull forces, and social capital, the authors compare migration patterns of minority and Han children in China. Results show minority children have a higher probability of joining migrant parents than Han children. However, this may not necessarily lead to more desirable outcomes.

International Organization for Migration (IOM),

This IOM report reveals that there are more than 700,000 people currently displaced within Haiti, 52% of whom are children. Haiti is experiencing an unprecedented crisis that has affected the entire population, including the many orphanages operating there.

Ulrike Bialas,

This study examined the categories that states use to classify and govern migrants. Unaccompanied minors and adult asylum seekers are treated very differently regarding their asylum cases and residence permits. The study focused on Germany, where the courts and youth welfare offices commission age assessments to decide whether young migrants will be considered minors or adults. These assessments are carried out by forensic medical examiners and social workers, respectively, who work with very different understandings of what constitutes age.

Kateryna Buchko, Irena L. C. Connon, Lena Dominelli ,

This study explores Ukrainian responses to internally displaced people during the first and second waves of war-induced displacement and internal migration in Ukraine, which took place after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and after the full-scale invasion of 2022. It also addresses the unique challenges faced by Ukrainian social work professionals in supporting displaced people, service people and their families, disabled veterans, and orphaned children as the war continues and also for resettlement in a post-war context.

Karen Jones-Mason, Vilma Reyes, Monica Noriega, Alicia F. Lieberman,

This paper addresses the consequences of child-parent separation at the U.S. southern border and offers suggestions for supporting these families including child-parent psychotherapy.

International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC),

This report by the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC) sheds light on how climate mobility is impacting children’s well-being and offers recommendations for ensuring that children affected by climate-related migration are not overlooked.

International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC),

A new report by the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC), Climate Mobility and Childhood: Examining the risks, closing the data and evidence gaps for children on the move, considers how the well-being of children may be affected when climate change and human mobility intersect in their lives – or, what can be described as experiences of climate mobility. This Executive Summary provides the key messages and main findings of the report's four sections.

Deborah Hadwin, Gurnam Singh,

This article addresses the complex dynamics surrounding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK.

UNICEF, IOM,

This Technical Note lays out ways in which national child protection systems can be enhanced to include children in the context of migration.

Justina Račaitė, Khatia Antia, Volker Winkler, Sigita Lesinskienė, Rita Sketerskienė, Rūta Maceinaitė, Ingrida Tracevskytė, Elena Dambrauskaitė, Genė Šurkienė ,

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 24 Lithuanian schools and involved parents/caregivers and their children aged 12 to 17. The study aimed to collect and analyse self-reported data on left behind children's emotional and behavioural problems and compare children’s reports with those of parents/caregivers.