Phone number: +61 8 92663 745 Fax Number: +61 8 9266 3636 AcknowledgementWe are very grateful for the contributions of refugee and asylum seeker families and agencies in Bangkok. This has provided deeper understanding of refugee and asylum-seeking children's needs and wellbeing as well as valuable information for future research which can inform future service provision and policy. Our special thanks are also extended to Curtin University Postgraduate Student Association (CUPSA) and the Scott Kimpton family, and Professor George Curry who provided a fieldwork grant. Identifying the needs of refugee and asylum-seeking children inThailand: a focus on the perspectives of children ___________________________________________________________________________ Abstract This research reports on the under-researched needs of urban refugee and asylum-seeking children living in precarious circumstances in Bangkok, Thailand. Further, it takes an unconventional approach and utilises child-centred research methods to privilege the perspectives of children. It then compares children's perspectives with those of adults who are their parents/guardians, and key informants who are service providers and policy advocates. Qualitative research methods, including participant observation, semistructured interviews, and drawing with children, were employed in late 2014. This article reports remarkable findings on the similarities and differences between the perspectives of children and adults. The similarities and differences are contextualised in light of the supports and services available to improve the children's wellbeing.

This article reports on a longitudinal case study, which included site visits in Thailand from 2014 to 2015, and participant follow-up to mid-2018. It documents the lived experience of children from Syria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Myanmar in two different locations in Thailand: Bangkok and Mae Sot (a district close to Thailand-Myanmar border with a long history of economic migrants and refugees from Myanmar). It documents perspectives of children and the adults in their lives while in exile. It presents an analysis of the children’s perspectives on needs and how unmet needs for safety, basic materials, health care, and education put them at risk of arrest, detention, abuse, and exploitation, and impact their psychological development. Contextual factors such as available services, existing policies and laws are also discussed in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).