Departure
The
departure from a familiar context into an uncertain future is a major rupture
in the life of the child and the family. It is often unsettling and worrying,
especially so for a child who is departing on an uncertain journey alone.
Children do not always have the time, opportunity and relevant information or
counselling to prepare for such major changes. Being unprepared may increase
their anxiety even more, as the implications of the decision to leave might not
be clear to the child. The child may have lived through single or repeated
departures in the past and might have to face new departures and major life
changes in the place of arrival.
Professionals
and officials working with and for children on the move can help children
reflect upon the meaning of life changes. Talking about life changes could help
children to become more familiar with their personalities and stories and
understand them in the context of their backgrounds, relations and experiences.
Getting to know and feeling confident about the own person and story can become
a solid basis for a life project.
Children
who have lived through difficult experiences in their home or on the journey
may need support to be able to reconcile with their past and present.
Reconciliation can prepare the child to face present and future challenges and
to handle them without losing track of her or his life project.
Professionals
and officials working with and for children on the move can support the child
in getting prepared for life changes. Acquiring skills to reflect
constructively on past changes and to apply the learning to future ones can
constitute a source of resilience. This might help the child to feel more
protected in new departures and life changes.
Orientations
for professionals working with unaccompanied children:
- Support the child in
getting prepared for changes in life. Offer counselling for the child to
reconcile with the changes she or he has lived through in the past. Help the
child to gain confidence in her or his own evolving capacities to cope and to
keep track of their life project.
- Explore together with
the child their skills, personal capacities and resources. Seek to understand
the type of support that the child needs in order to strengthen and activate
these capacities and resources in a way that is oriented at the protection,
empowerment and development of the child.
- Support children in
testing and developing their social and negotiation skills, knowledge of human
nature and people skills as these are essential in their interaction with peers
and in communities, with service providers and other professionals and
officials. These skills are fundamental for understanding sources of risk and
protection that are inherent within human relations.
- Create trusted spaces
where a child can talk about experiences with illegal or criminal acts. Inform
the child about the law in the place of arrival and the consequences of any
infringements. Use the child’s disclosure to develop tailor-made counselling
and support services for the child, while also taking into consideration any
possible implications for the child’s asylum claim or residence, or the child’s
status as a victim of trafficking.
- Listen to the child’s
economic aspirations and responsibilities and show the child that you take them
seriously. Engage in an open and trusted dialogue to exchange views with the
child and to try and find solutions. Explain any possible limitations imposed
by the care arrangements in the reception system and relevant immigration and
labour law.
Literature:
Family and Childcare Centre (KMOP), Defence for Children
International – Italy (2015), ‘Departure’, in: Resiland
, Participation, capacities and resilience of
children on the move against trafficking and exploitation, Orientations for
professionals and officials working with and for children on the move, Athens, pp. 20-25.