Sustainable Codes and Holistic Environment for Minor migrants in Europe

 Today, the number of children exiled in Europe is increasing and more than one in three is a minor. Some of them, known as “unaccompanied minors” (UM), are alone, without parents. While some left their home country alone, others were separated from their families during their migratory journey, all of them having had very difficult journeys. 70% are denied any care by host countries. These children are in danger and should be protected under the 1989 International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. And because they are minors, they can settle in the host countries.

Whatever the reason for it, economic, health or political, the migration of these young people is constantly re-questioning the hospitality and care strategies of the host countries in two areas in particular: migration management and child protection. Beyond societal and human issues, professionals continue to face new «emergencies» either because of the change in migration routes, or because of a change in the typology of migration, which means constantly adapting to new profiles. The primary objective of the socio-educational institutions is to welcome, accompany and care for the migrant minors. Therefore, the social practitioners must better understand the migratory trajectories, their issues and consequences.

Faced with the pressure of these changes and the resulting needs, SCHEME aims to set up a holistic framework and approach at territorial but also cross-cultural level so that professionals can develop more tailored responses to these new challenges. Professionals need to enrich and develop their expertise to better understand and support these Unaccompanied Minors, to improve the way to collect the relevant information, to help them integrate into the codes of the host countries but also to develop their capabilities for personal projects. Capitalizing on an action-research approach and being able to identify the criteria for success with all key actors, will identify the conditions for sustainable and legal integration. By moving away from the psychological approach that aims to understand the history of UMs exclusively through their trauma and without minimizing their importance, the partnership wishes to handle these issues from the “positive” experience perspective through the development of potential and capacity. It will be about helping the minor refocusing on their existing and available capacities in the construction of his/her “new” project with an inclusive, sustainable and legal goal.

SCHEME addresses professionals from all relevant sectors: social work (child protection – migration), legal issues, police, health and sanitary including also diasporas and unaccompanied minors themselves (particularly from Sub-Saharan Africa).