Migrant and asylum-seeker children returned to Kosovo and Albania: predictive factors for social–emotional wellbeing after return

Abstract

The return of rejected asylum seekers has a high priority on the national agendas of European States. In order to make wellinformed asylum decisions involving children, knowledge of how asylum-seeker children fare after their return to their countries of origin is needed. This study aims to gain knowledge about the child-rearing environment and the social-emotional wellbeing of migrant children who have returned to Kosovo and Albania after a stay in a European host country. Based on a sample of 106 returned families, the study investigated the predictive factors for children's social-emotional wellbeing using regression analyses. The findings show that procedural characteristics and ethnicity predict wellbeing, mediated through the quality of the childrearing environment. The most vulnerable children did not have a stable resident status in the host country, belonged to a minority ethnic group and were older adolescents. The findings indicate that the wellbeing of returned children is not only dependent on conditions after repatriation, but also on the conditions which the families left in the host country. To enable sustainable return in a child's best interests, the needs of vulnerable families and children should be thoroughly assessed prior to return, and reintegration support should be tailored to their situation.

Supporting the Effective Reintegration of Roma Returnees in the Western Balkans

“…There is insufficient research on children and adolescents classified as returnees; however, evidence collected for this study in addition to other research in the Western Balkans reveals a prevalence of reintegration difficulties and socioemotional problems among children (Zevulun et al 2017;Vathi and Duci 2016…”

Who is Most Likely to Remigrate? Evidence from Kosovo’s Returned Migrants

“…One explanation for this may be the difficulties of reintegration and lack of opportunities for the youth. Zevulun et al (2018) find that children who were denied a permit in the host country have a positive correlation between peer problems and age. On the other side, those children that had a permit experienced an opposite effect, indicating that peer problems decrease while growing up.…”

Recently arrived refugee children: The quality and outcomes of Best Interests of the Child assessments

“…The expected quality of the child-rearing environment in the country of origin should the refugee child return has been assessed prospectively in this study. In line with the research of Zevulun et al (2015); Zevulun, Post, Zijlstra, Kalverboer, and Knorth (2017), assessments in the actual return situation of children that participated in this study and whose refugee claim has been rejected would provide information on the accuracy of the initial prospective assessments of the quality of the child-rearing environment. Moreover, in general, further research on the situation of returned children is necessary in order to facilitate durable solutions for these children (Zevulun, 2017, pp.…”