Syrian-born children with a refugee background in Rotterdam. A child-centred approach to explore their social contacts and the experienced social climate in the Netherlands.

Abstract

Purpose This article explores how newly-arrived children with a refugee background describe their everyday lives in the Netherlands, with a focus on how they perceive their peer relations and the broader social climate in the host country. Methods In this case study, focus groups were conducted with 46 Syrian-born children with a refugee background, ranging between the ages of 8 to 17 years old. All participants have a temporary residence permit and live in Rotterdam together with (part of) their family. A board game was developed as a research tool to stimulate children to share their perspectives on their friends and experiences with inclusion and exclusion. Results An important finding is that all of the children have friends in the Netherlands. The majority of their friends have an Arab background, and different reasons for this composition are discussed. Furthermore, although all of the children expressed that they feel welcome in Dutch society, they had also encountered exclusion, which generates emotional responses. Conclusion Using a theoretical boundary perspective, we show that children are involuntarily subjected to symbolic boundary drawing by others, while taking part in boundary work themselves too. Within the domains of the children’s social networks and the broader social climate in the Netherlands, we further examined the relations between symbolic and social boundaries.

The predicament of the child refugee – understanding health and wellbeing in the daily life of migrant children and young people

“…A study conducted by Van Hear et al ( 2020 ), drawing on the specific experiences of Afghan and Somali migrants’ movements, concludes that more mediating drivers, rather than merely looking studying mediating drivers in addtion to structural dimensions, appear to offer a greater potential in analysing why and were people choose to migrate. The study illustrates how deep-rooted cultural understandings and practices of migration reflect longstanding structural and economic inequalities between places of origin and places of destination.…”

“…In both the cases of migration routes from Afghanistan and Somalia, international policy efforts have intended to mediate migration by inhibiting it. Instead of restricting migration, these actions have had the (unintended) consequence of rather forcing migrants to use irregular and clandestine channels (Van Hear et al, 2020 ; Watters, 2008 ,O’Connell Davidson, 2011 ), hence making the choice to flee an even more dangerous and hazardous undertaking. (2) Paediatric or psychological research emphasizing the psychological wellbeing of refugee children in a new host country; …”

“…Barbara van der Ent, Jaco Dagevos & Talitha Stam ( 2020 ) in their pap er Syrian-born children with a refugee background in Rotterdam. A child-centred approach to explore their social contacts and the experienced social climate in the Netherlands explore different aspects of children’s resettlement in a Western host country after fleeing from Syria with their families, from the perspective of the children themselves.…”