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.

Children on the move: Like adults, children often migrate in an attempt to build a better life – to escape poverty, discrimination or conflict, and to find education, employment and other opportunities. Others relocate due to an unstable or difficult family environment, such as the loss of a parent, or neglect or abuse from a caregiver. Children may migrate with or without their families, and their movements may be temporary, seasonal or permanent.

While migration can open up new opportunities for children, it can also expose them to harmful care situations, chronic poverty, violence and exploitation. During transit and at their destination, migrant children may end up in unsafe institutions, detention centres, on the streets or in overcrowded, poor-quality accommodation. Others who migrate to join households (e.g. for fostering, education, domestic work or apprenticeships) may be subjected to exploitation. Many migrant children, particularly those without documentation, end up without access to education, protection or basic services, while discrimination and language barriers make it difficult for them to reintegrate into new communities.

Children left behind. An increasing number of children around the world are also adversely affected when migrating parents leave home to seek out employment or economic opportunities (often in urban centres). While children may gain materially from remittances sent home, the absence of a parent may be detrimental to their social and psychological development. In particular, the nature and quality of children’s care relationships may suffer as they adjust to life without a loved caregiver and try to replace a physically and emotionally nurturing relationship with someone new.

Studies from around the world indicate that children left behind by migrating caretakers face education, health and psychosocial problems, including deteriorating academic performance and lower school attendance, greater risk of drug abuse, early pregnancy, involvement in criminal activities and social dysfunction. Left behind children may suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of abandonment, and in the worst cases may be vulnerable to violence, abuse and trafficking. While new or remaining caretakers can offer children a protective and caring environment they may also struggle to care for them without support, and breakdown of these relationships can sometimes result in children’s placement in harmful institutional care.

The documents in this section focus on the impact of migration on children’s care situations, and outline policy, advocacy and programmatic measures to enhance child migrants’ protection.

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The Ethical and Public Health Implications of Family Separation

Mia Stange, Brett Stark - The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 12 Jul 2019

This paper reviews and contributes to evolving analyses of the public health, legal, and ethical consequences of immigration policy.

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Peer relationships at residential care institutions for unaccompanied refugee minors: An under-utilised resource?

Guro B Omland & Agnes Andenas - Qualitative Social Work, 02 Jul 2019

Without access to their own families, how do young, unaccompanied refugee minors re-establish their social lives in ways that facilitate a sense of togetherness in their everyday lives during resettlement? This question was approached by exploring young persons’ creation of relational practices and the kinds of sociomaterial conditions that seemed to facilitate the evolvement of these practices in Norway, including the professional caregivers’ contributions.

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Child Separations by the Trump Administration

Committee on Oversight and Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, 01 Jul 2019

This staff report has been prepared at the request of Chairman Elijah E. Cummings to summarize the data obtained by the Committee on Oversight and Reform's subpoenas to compel the Trump Administration to produce documents relating to its policy of separating immigrant children from their families.

Board Games as Interview Tools: Creating a Safe Space for Unaccompanied Refugee Children

Annamária Neag - Media and Communication, 28 Jun 2019

This article presents the use of bespoke, artisanal board games in cross-national interview settings with unaccompanied refugee children.

Country Care Review: Cabo Verde

Better Care Network, 27 Jun 2019

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

A mobile learning platform to guarantee education continuity for unaccompanied foreign minors and refugees

Giovanni Fulantelli, Davide Taibi, Giovanni Todaro, Vito Pipitone, Dario La Guardia, Marco ArrigoProceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning, 24 Jun 2019

In this paper, the authors present the results of the Studiare Migrando project (www.studiaremigrando.it), in which an online learning platform to improve the language skills of young migrants and accessible via mobile devices has been implemented.

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Community-based surveillance of unaccompanied and separated children in drought-affected northern Ethiopia

Matthew MacFarlane, Beth L. Rubenstein, Terry Saw, Daniel Mekonnen, Craig Spencer and Lindsay Stark - BMC International Health and Human Rights, 10 Jun 2019

In this study, a mobile phone-based surveillance system was established in a drought-affected district in northern Ethiopia to assess the feasibility of using community focal points to monitor cases of unaccompanied and separated children.

Latent profile analysis of anxiety disorder among left-behind children in rural Southern China: a crosssectional study

Haining Liao, Minyi Pan, Weinan Li, Changqi Lin, Xuhao Zhu, Xingru Li, Jinghua Li, Shudong Zhou - BMJ Open, 05 Jun 2019

This study sought to identify the heterogeneous characteristics of rural left-behind children’s anxiety and explore the related factors through a cross-sectional survey using a school-based sample in January 2018 in Qingxin district, Qingyuan city, Guangdong province, China.

UNICEF Annual Report 2018: For every child, every right

UNICEF, 01 Jun 2019

In words, images, facts and figures, this report details the results that UNICEF achieved in 2018, together with its generous partners and supporters, a dedicated global workforce and children and young people themselves.

International Migration and Remittance Effects on the School Enrollment of Children Staying Behind: Evidence from Tajikistan

Enerelt Murakami - Asian Development Bank Institute, 01 Jun 2019

This paper explores the impact of international migration on school enrollment of children staying behind in Tajikistan, by using data from a large nationally representative household survey. The results show that migration of household members reduces the probability of enrolling in school by 10 percentage points for children who belong to households with migrants. The effect of parental migration is much larger than that of migration of other household members. Receiving remittances reduces the adverse impact of migration by only 1‒3 percentage points.