Approximately 13,000 unaccompanied children apply for asylum in Europe each year. This study explores what happens to them when they 'become adult' at the age of 18 while still subject to immigration control. The presentation reflects on how we might best capture the well-being outcomes of young people becoming 'adult' as they experience multiple transitions across different maturation, geographic, bureaucratic, cultural and cognitive spaces. Presentation by Elaine Chase in University of Oxford seminar series on Children and Youth in a Changing World.

1. In Motion: Conceptual and methodological
challenges in capturing the wellbeing outcomes
of young people ‘becoming adult’ while subject
to immigration control
Elaine Chase
(Nando Sigona, Jenny Allsopp,
Dawn Chatty)

2. Outline
 Background and Context
 Young people subject to immigration control
 Research to date
 Examples of circumstances/complexities
 ‘Becoming Adult’ project
 Wellbeing as a concept in different spaces
 Example: Bureaucratic space – ‘welfare’
 Challenges capturing wellbeing on the move
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3. Young people seeking asylum alone:
Europe
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 2013- 12,690
 2012- 12,685
 2011- 12,225
 2010 - 10,845 + UNKNOWN
 2009 - 12,245
 2008 - 11, 715
 E.g Spain 60 applications for asylum (2008-
2011) + 5,000 Independent migrant children
(European Commission, 2012)

4. Asylum applications from minors in top 12 countries in
Europe (Source: Eurostat 2013; Norwegian Directorate of
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Immigration 2013)

5. Young people seeking asylum: UK
 2006-2012 - 14, 047 Unaccompanied
minors (Home Office, 2013)
 Afghanistan, Albania, Iran, Eritrea
(Syria and Vietnam)
 12% Refugee Status
 67% Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR)
 + Unknown numbers not claiming asylum
 Trajectories and outcomes post 18
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–Limited research and policy focus

6. Research : ‘Futures and Wellbeing’
 Undocumented young people: social and economic lives
in UK (2007-2009)
 Emotional wellbeing study (DH, 2008)
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 Combined with legal data => PhD (2010)
 Undocumented children and families (2010-2012)
 Protracted Limbo – Scoping Project (Fell Fund 2013)
Trajectories of former ‘unaccompanied’ children
across Europe.
Literature review; policy analysis; participant
observation and interviews with young people
subject to immigration control
Development of research design on longer term
trajectories

7. Work so far …..
Established link between subjective ‘wellbeing’ and a
sense of future
Critiqued current notions of a ‘durable solutions’ for
young people
Return; integration; resettlement
Normative ideas about ‘belonging’ and ‘social
membership’
Beginning to understand how young people exercise
agency to resist bureaucratic rhythms and processes
 Beginning to unpick how social networks, family and
cultural influences may influence decision-making and
risk
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8. Page 8
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u-DEqugGrk

10. Becoming Adult: 3 year project
First longitudinal research to examine
wellbeing outcomes of young people
subject to immigration control
Primarily UK focus looking out
 Italy (Grant-linked studentship)
 + Norway & Belgium?
Page 10

11. Rationale for current research
 Builds on previous work showing link between futures and subjective
wellbeing (Chase, 2013)
 Practically nothing is known about
Long –term outcomes after ‘becoming adult’ (WITHIN/WITHOUT)
 Young people’s migration strategies over time – ‘FUTURE’
Part of life course; rite of passage; economic independence;
adventure…….
 Cultural, family, peer influences on migration decisions and risks
The intersection between agency and vulnerability in the migration
process
 How transitions to ‘adulthood’ intersect with ‘wellbeing’ in the
context of immigration enforcement practices and (international)
immigration politics
The significance of gender and ethnicity
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12. Components: ‘Becoming adult’
 Work Package One: Young People’s
conceptions and constructions of ‘futures’
 Longitudinal (18 months); biographical narrative
 Wellbeing outcomes & ‘measure’; social network analysis
 Work Package Two: Cultural constructions of
‘futures’; ‘wellbeing’; ‘migration’; ‘adulthood’ etc.
 Work Package Three: Policy conceptions of
‘wellbeing’ and ‘futures’
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13. Wellbeing
 Contested across disciplines
 Different meanings and associations for
adults/children
 What is it?
 How can we (should we?) measure it?
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14. Some agreement on …….
 More than ‘absence of disease’ (WHO 1978)
 Multi-dimensionality
 -physical, psychological, social
 Subjective and objective
 + rights, protection from social exclusion/
poverty
 About capabilities (Sen 1992)
 A sense of belonging and control over one’s
environment (Nussbaum 2000)
 ‘At ease with one’s place in the world’ (White
2009)
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15. Wellbeing linked to Future
 Ontological security and wellbeing
 Order, stability, routine (Giddens 1991)
 A sense of ‘projected self’
 Sustaining a biographical narrative (Laing 1965 )
 Sense of coherence (Antonovosky1979)
 Wellbeing linked to a viable ‘future’
 Sustaining the ‘narrative’, order and routine
=)contingent on resources/social rights
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16. Can we capture wellbeing as:
 Trust & Belonging
 Connectedness (Marginalization; segregation)
 A positive identity (not the ‘undeserving’; the ‘bogus’; ‘the illegal’
 Possibility to access to basic needs and support – ‘Welfare’
 Deservingness: vulnerability ( ‘good’ ?)l Agency (‘bad’ ?)
 Sustainable lives and livelihoods (education, training etc)
 Moving forward – sustaining the biographical narrative
- OVER TIME
- OVER TRANSITIONS:
 Child to ‘Adult’ (developmental/ maturation space)
Geographical space
 Cultural space (including inclusive/exclusionary contexts)
 Bureaucratic space (protected child to ‘illegal immigrant’)
 ‘Intellectual/cognitive’ (?) space
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17. Example: Wellbeing in Bureaucratic
space: ‘Welfare’
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 Entitlements depend on
o Age
o time spent in the UK
o legal status
 Significant ages: 16, 18, 21, 25
 Care leaver?
 Young people often confused about what entitled to or
not

18. Bureaucratic wellbeing (cont)
Page 18
 Welfare provisions
o ‘care’ -> accommodation; education; social
protections/allowances; health care; + legal aid
 Social construction of rights (Morris; Dean)
o Stratification and proliferation of statuses (Morris)
with associated entitlements
o Collective ‘moral’ sympathy (Turner); ‘Moral economy’
(Watters)
o Multiple mediators of welfare rights
o Entitlement or serendipity?
o Street level bureaucrats (Lipskey)

19. ‘Ageing out’ at 18
 End of temporary legal status granted on grounds of being a
‘child’
 Uncertainty about the future and how long can remain in UK
(fresh asylum claims, appeals etc)
 Drop in rights and entitlements UNLESS ‘care leaver’
A young person who has ‘been looked after for at least
13 weeks since the age of 14’ and has been ‘in care on
their 16th birthday’
=> widespread and contested age assessments
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20. Immigration control vs ‘welfare’
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BUT Immigration control trumps all =>
 Appeal Rights Exhausted
o Curtails entitlements to benefits/support
oHuman Rights Assessment? (ongoing support if
‘destitute plus’)
o Support conditional on compliance
o Possibility of detention and deportation (Deportation
gap - Gibney 2008; Sigona 2012)
o Local authority differences in practice
 ‘Transition into illegality’ (Gonzales 2011)

21. Chase and Allsopp 2014 5 June 2014
Page 21
‘Ageing out’: Peter (21)
 14/15: Leaves Eritrea, spent time in Sudan and Italy en route to UK
 16 arrives in UK: sent back to Italy (Dublin).
 16: arrives in UK 2nd time. Assigned a social worker for 10 days then age
assessed to be 17.
 A 2nd age assessment finds him to 17.5 years. He spends 6 months in an
asylum hostel for young people and attends college. He is refused asylum.
 Turns 18 and is evicted: homeless and in receipt of no support. Not ‘care
leaver’.
 Receives bus pass, laptop and £30 a week from a charity which allows him
to continue college. (College doesn’t require passport)
 20: puts in fresh asylum claim (1 year and has still heard nothing). Not in
receipt of asylum support as wants to stay and attend college in London.
 21: applies to University in the UK. If granted refugee status will be able to
access student finance.

22. ‘Ageing out’: Elizabeth
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 16: leaves Rwanda and arrives with sister in UK. Both enter
children's home. No age assessment.
 17: moves into independent living. Sister (15) into foster care.
 19: 1st asylum application withdrawn (‘lost’); puts in 2nd asylum
claim (still pending)
 19: Her and sister move in with aunt.
 21: has received support until 21 as a ‘care leaver’. Day turned 21
STOPS ( not in full time education).
 Reassigned to NASS
 (sister now 19 and has social worker who Informally helps).
 21: Applies to university in the UK. If she is granted refugee status
she will be able to access student finance AND have social services
support reinstated until the age of 24.

23. Page 23
NEF
-Connect
- Be active
-Take notice
-Keep learning
-Give
Every Child Matters
-Enjoying and achieving
-Being healthy
-Staying safe
-positive contribution
-economic wellbeing
Barry (1997)
Acculturation
-Integration
-Assimilation
-Separation/segregation
- Marginalisation
Ryff & Singer (1996)
-Self acceptance
-Self esteem
-Positive relationships
-Autonomy
-Environmental mastery
-Purpose in life (hope,
goals, direction)
‘Tests’
-Symptoms
check lists
-Strengths/
difficulties
POSSIBLE TOOLS
FRAMEWORKS
 MEASURES

24. The challenge….
How do we capture wellbeing over
time, motion & multiple transitions?
A new ‘measure’ ?
How best to validate it?
How best to implement it?
What might it add?
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25. Page 25
Related publications
Allsopp, J. And Chase, E. (2014) The Tactics of Time and Status: Young people’s experiences of
building futures while subject to immigration control in Britain. Journal of Refugee Studies
Bloch, A. , Sigona, N., & Zetter, R. (2014) Sans Papiers: The social and economic lives of
undocumented migrants. London: Pluto Press.
Chase, E. and Allsopp, J. (2013), ‘Future Citizens of the world’? Contested futures of
independent young migrants in Europe, Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre/ Social Policy and
Intervention Working paper.
Chase, E. (2013) Security and subjective wellbeing: the experiences of unaccompanied young
people seeking asylum in the UK, Sociology of Health & Illness, 35(6), p.858–872.
Chase, E. (2013) 'Unaccompanied young asylum seekers in the UK: mental health and rights'
in F. Thomas and J. Gideon (eds) Migration, Rights and Inequality, London: Zed Books,
p.94-111.
Chase, E. (2010) Agency and Silence: Young people seeking asylum alone in the UK. British
Journal of Social Work. 40,7, 2050-2068
Chase, E., Knight, A., and Statham, J. (2008) Promoting the emotional wellbeing and mental
health of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK, London: BAAF
Sigona, N. & Hughes, V. (2012) No Way In, No Way Out. Oxford: COMPAS
Contact: elaine.chase@spi.ox.ac.uk