Housing pathways, not belonging and sense of home as described by unaccompanied minors

Abstract

This article reports the housing pathways of unaccompanied minors and refugee children (hereafter 'UM') in Finland. Of special interest are possible experiences of UM of not belonging as part of the relocations they have faced, and whether UM's descriptions of their housing pathways include experiences of belonging and a sense of home that could be thought to assist with coping. The data consists of qualitative interviews with UM. As a result, for most of them, changes of residence were moderate in number and some of them had no memories of having moved. Some, however, had been relocated frequently. Nevertheless, the meanings attributed by the UM to their housing locations were similar in nature. The most painful experiences of not belonging were particularly associated with the arrival in Finland. The issue of home was ambivalent and had multiple meanings in the course of the housing pathways of the UM. UM highlighted many factors-such as an ordered everyday life-which a receiving country may use to help them in recovering a sense of place, belonging and future safety. Listening UM's experiences offers a number of implications both for the practical work of helping them and the arrangements of the reception and care.

Pockets of love. Unaccompanied children in institutional care in Finland

“…While loving professionals may, to a certain extent, fill the gaps created by the children's separation from their families, they do not replace those families. This has been repeatedly demonstrated also in other international (Omland & Andenas, 2018;Wernesjö, 2015) and Finnish (Kauko & Forsberg, 2018;Kuusisto-Arponen, 2016) research. The aim of institutional rules and practices is to protect the children.…”

“…The representative is rarely present in the child's life, and any other built ties and connections become broken when the children are assigned to a new location if they receive a residency permit in Finland (Chase, 2013;Herz & Lalander, 2017). These relocations may constitute an on-going 'forced migration' after their initial forced migration across borders (Kauko & Forsberg, 2018). In this research, we are interested in the possibilities of unaccompanied children for creating loving relationships after they arrive in Finland.…”

The concept of home – unaccompanied youths voices and experiences

“…Much previous research has been related to organisational issues and the structure of the reception rather than the minor's own experiences. Some of the research has also taken the professionals' points of view (Kauko & Forsberg, 2018;Söderqvist, Sjöblom, & Bülow, 2016). In a recent study by Jahanmahan and Bunar (2018), experiences by unaccompanied youths in interactions with two government agencies (social services and legal guardians) in Sweden are described and explored.…”

I väntan på integration: en etnografisk studie om en institutionellt återskapad vardagsverklighet

“…förebygga dessa orättvisor. En del forskare anser att de sociala orättvisor som drabbar dessa barn och unga mer eller mindre moraliskt förpliktigar forskarsamhället att i en aktivistisk anda arbeta för att komma till rätta med dessa orättvisor (se t.ex Kohli 2006;Höjer & Sjöblom 2014;Malmsten 2014;Wernesjö 2014;Nordling 2017;Kauko & Forsberg 2018;Eriksson & Rundgren 2019;Söderman 2019;Börjesson & Söderqvist Forkby 2020;Herz & Lalander 2020)…”

“…I andra fall utgör personalen och deras institutionellt orienterade tal och handlingar en del av bakgrunden till den institutionella scenbild som målas upp i dessa studier (se t.ex.Söderqvist m.fl. 2016;Herz & Lalander 2017;Kauko & Forsberg 2018;Elsrud & Lalander 2021). Min ambition i denna studie är inte mer anspråksfull än att vända på den ekvationen.…”