Rosen, R; (2020) Unaccompanied Minors, Migration. In: Cook, DT, (ed.) SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies. (pp. 1608-1611). Sage: Thousand Oaks, US.

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Abstract

Unaccompanied minors are children who migrate internationally without their parent or primary adult guardian. However, the term ‘ unaccompanied minor’ is the subject of debate within childhood studies, and many researchers prefer the term ‘separated child migrant’. In recent years, child migrants, and especially unaccompanied minors, have received growing attention in childhood studies. This focus is the result of in- creasing numbers of people migrating internationally, public anxieties about migration combined with preoc- cupations about the plight of separated child migrants, and a concern amongst researchers to document the specific experiences of this group of children. Childhood studies research has focused on the legal status and rights of unaccompanied minors, the protection of unaccompanied minors in ‘host’ countries, and repre- sentations of child migrants. A small body of work focuses on unaccompanied minors’ perspectives on their experiences, as well as their active roles in the migration process. This newer work has begun to offer a more nuanced and contextualised account of the complexities of unaccompanied migration. It highlights some of the limited or inaccurate assumptions on which much policy is based. The first half of this entry discusses the terminology currently used to describe unaccompanied minors, the history of unaccompanied minors, and the legal and policy issues raised by this demographic. The entry then examines some of the care provisions that have been established to protect unaccompanied minors. The en- try concludes by examining representations of unaccompanied minors.

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