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.

Displaying 431 - 440 of 824

Browse Other Topics

Research Handbook on Child Migration

Jacqueline Bhabha, François-Xavier Bagnoud, Jyothi Kanics, Daniel Senovilla Hernández - , 01 Aug 2018

This Research Handbook is an innovative tool which will be of use not only for students and scholars interested in migration displacement, immigration, and human rights, but also for policymakers and others actively engaged in the migrant and refugee rights advocacy community.

View Book

Desarraigados en CentroAmérica y México: Los niños migrantes y refugiados se enfrentan a un círculo vicioso de adversidad y peligro

UNICEF, 01 Aug 2018

En este informe de la Infancia en peligro se evalúan las causas estructurales de las migraciones irregulares procedentes del norte de Centroamérica y México, y se analizan las distintas dificultades y peligros a los que se enfrentan los niños migrantes y refugiados y sus familias durante los arduos procesos de migración y retorno.

Smart Practices for Protecting Unaccompanied and Separated Children from SGBV Through Access to Health and PSS in Last Mile Locations: Honduras

Evelyn Vallejo Salcedo - International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies, 01 Aug 2018

The objective of the mission was to gather data on Honduras as a case study to support the IFRC global study on smart practices for protecting unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) from sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) through health and psychosocial services in last mile locations.

Gender differences in the mental health of unaccompanied refugee minors in Europe: a systematic review

Lea-Marie Mohwinkel, Anna Christina Nowak, Anne Kasper, Oliver Razum - BMJ Open, 30 Jul 2018

The aim of this study was to summarise the current evidence regarding gender differences in the mental health of unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) and to identify gaps in research.

View Article

Effect of overseas parental employment migration on healthcare seeking for common childhood illnesses and nutritional status among left-behind young children: A systematic review

Ritu Kunwar Prabhat Lamichhane, Claire Vajdic, David J Muscatello - Journal of Child Health Care, 24 Jul 2018

The authors of this paper aimed to examine the available evidence on the impact of overseas parental migration on healthcare seeking for common childhood illnesses and the nutritional status of children left-behind under five years of age.

View Article

Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

U.N. Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, 11 Jul 2018

The Global Compact forms a basis to improve governance and international understanding of migration, to address the challenges associated with migration today, and to strengthen the contribution of migrants and migration to sustainable development.

Giving Immigrant Children a Voice: Understanding Traumatic Separation

National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 10 Jul 2018

This webinar, from the U.S. National Child Traumatic Stress Network, as part of its Childhood Traumatic Grief e-learning series, focuses on helping providers, current caregivers, and others understand and recognize the effects of Traumatic Separation in immigrant children of different ages, understand immigrant children’s prior trauma experiences, and provide practical suggestions for how to support immigrant children who have been separated from parents and siblings.

View Webinar

The enormous cost of toxic stress: Repairing damage to refugee and separated children

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, cientific Advisory Group, Early Childhood of the Bezos Family Foundation, 09 Jul 2018

This statement, submitted on behalf of the Scientific Advisory Group, Early Childhood of the Bezos Family Foundation, has been released in light of the policy of family separation of immigrant families at the U.S. border with Mexico and outlines the harmful impacts of the toxic stress of family separation on children's brain development and physical wellbeing.

View Statement

“Like a Lottery” Arbitrary Treatment of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Paris

Human Rights Watch, 04 Jul 2018

This report from Human Rights Watch examines the arbitrary procedures and inordinate delays in determining that unaccompanied migrant children in France are under age 18, the first step to entry into the French child protection system.

‘I Stand on My Own Two Feet but Need Someone Who Really Cares’: Social Networks and Social Capital among Unaccompanied Minors for Becoming Established in Swedish Society

Malin Eriksson, Malin E Wimelius, Mehdi Ghazinour - Journal of Refugee Studies, 03 Jul 2018

The aim of this qualitative grounded-theory situational study was to explore experiences of social networks among unaccompanied minors (UM) and the significance of those networks for becoming established in Sweden, based on data from in-depth interviews with 11 young persons.

View Article