Children and Migration

Millions of children around the world are affected by migration. This includes girls and boys who migrate within and between countries (usually with their families but sometimes on their own), as well as children ‘left behind’ when their parents or caregivers migrate in search of economic opportunities. Be it forced or voluntary, by adults or children, migration affects children’s care situations and can entail risks to their protection.

Children on the move: Like adults, children often migrate in an attempt to build a better life – to escape poverty, discrimination or conflict, and to find education, employment and other opportunities. Others relocate due to an unstable or difficult family environment, such as the loss of a parent, or neglect or abuse from a caregiver. Children may migrate with or without their families, and their movements may be temporary, seasonal or permanent.

While migration can open up new opportunities for children, it can also expose them to harmful care situations, chronic poverty, violence and exploitation. During transit and at their destination, migrant children may end up in unsafe institutions, detention centres, on the streets or in overcrowded, poor-quality accommodation. Others who migrate to join households (e.g. for fostering, education, domestic work or apprenticeships) may be subjected to exploitation. Many migrant children, particularly those without documentation, end up without access to education, protection or basic services, while discrimination and language barriers make it difficult for them to reintegrate into new communities.

Children left behind. An increasing number of children around the world are also adversely affected when migrating parents leave home to seek out employment or economic opportunities (often in urban centres). While children may gain materially from remittances sent home, the absence of a parent may be detrimental to their social and psychological development. In particular, the nature and quality of children’s care relationships may suffer as they adjust to life without a loved caregiver and try to replace a physically and emotionally nurturing relationship with someone new.

Studies from around the world indicate that children left behind by migrating caretakers face education, health and psychosocial problems, including deteriorating academic performance and lower school attendance, greater risk of drug abuse, early pregnancy, involvement in criminal activities and social dysfunction. Left behind children may suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of abandonment, and in the worst cases may be vulnerable to violence, abuse and trafficking. While new or remaining caretakers can offer children a protective and caring environment they may also struggle to care for them without support, and breakdown of these relationships can sometimes result in children’s placement in harmful institutional care.

The documents in this section focus on the impact of migration on children’s care situations, and outline policy, advocacy and programmatic measures to enhance child migrants’ protection.

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Childhood Left-Behind Experience and Employment Quality of New-Generation Migrants in China

Jianbo Liu, Xiaodong Zheng, Marie Parker & Xiangming Fang - Population Research and Policy Review, 13 Jan 2020

This is the first study that empirically investigates the associations between left-behind experience in childhood and the quality of employment in adulthood for young rural-to-urban migrants in China, a population known as new-generation migrants.

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The mediating mechanism between psychological resilience and mental health among left-behind children in China

Xinyi Zhao, Fang Fu, Luqing Zhou - Children and Youth Services Review, 13 Jan 2020

This study examined the mediating effect of psychological trait resilience on the relationship between protective factors from social network and self-esteem/depression of the left-behind children in China.

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Parent migration and rural preschool children's early academic and social skill trajectories in China: Are ‘left-behind’ children really left behind?

Bi Ying Hu, Huiping Wu, Adam Winsler, Xitao Fan, Zhanmei Song - Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10 Jan 2020

This study examined early trajectories for academic and social skills among four groups of rural, preschool-attending, children in the Guangdong province of China: Village children who remained in a rural village and lived with both parents, Migrant children who migrated with their work-seeking parents to live in an urban area, Partially-left-behind children who lived with one parent in a rural village while the other parent migrated to the city for work, and Completely-left-behind children who stayed in a rural village with relatives while both parents migrated to the city for work.

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Girls on the Move in Southern Africa

Save the Children, 02 Jan 2020

This report’s primary purpose is to recommend evidence-based strategies to improve the relevance and effectiveness of field interventions that target development outcomes for migrant girls in Southern Africa.

Researching Unaccompanied and Separated Children on the Move: Lessons learned

Save the Children, 2020

This document presents the challenges met during research on informal practices of unaccompanied and separated children traveling the Balkans route and learnings from the process of overcoming these challenges.

Girls on the Move in Central America and Mexico

Save the Children, 2020

The primary purpose of this report is to recommend evidencebased strategies to improve the relevance and effectiveness of field interventions that target development outcomes for girls on the move in Central America and Mexico.

Residential Care in Germany for Refugee Young People

Norbert Struck - International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2020

This article analyzes developments in the forms of social work with young refugees and the legal framing of such work in Germany from 1990 to the present.

Family Separation Under the Trump Administration: Applying an International Criminal Law Framework

Reilly Frye - Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 2020

This Comment will propose a theoretical international criminal law response to the family separation that occurred in summer 2018.

Report on the Transition from Institutional Care to Community-Based Services in 27 EU Member States

Jan Šiška and Julie Beadle-Brown - European Expert Group on Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care, 2020

The aim of this report was to collate information about policies and plans, changes over time, strengths and areas of concerns relevant to advancement in deinstitutionalisation in 27 EU countries and for six target groups: adults with disabilities, adults with mental health problems, children (including children with disabilities), unaccompanied or separated migrant children, homeless persons and older adults.

Balkans Migration and Displacement Hub Data and Trend Analysis: Regional overview (April-June 2020)

Save the Children, 2020

Data and Trend Analysis (DATA) Refugees and Migrants at the Western Balkans Route Regional Overview, covering period April – June 2020, describes key trends in migrations in the region, detailing information about the number of people on the move, demography (age, sex, country of origin, etc), behavioral patterns, and routes in use - with a focus on children, particularly unaccompanied children.