Description
Book SynopsisUnaccompanied migrant children are the most vulnerable group of migrants and refugees. Their experiences, their contested legal status in the host countries, and their treatment before, during, and after migration call for an ethics of child migration that places unaccompanied migrant children at the center.
This volume gathers international experts from the fields of social work, social science, law, philosophy, and Catholic ethics. Social science, psychological, and social work studies, analyses of US and international law of child migration, refuge and asylum policies, and several case studies regarding law enforcement highlight the more recent shifts in policies both in the United States and Europe. The current policies are confronted with two major normative frameworks that go beyond migration laws or the international refugee and asylum provisions: the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, and the approach of the Catholic social ethics of m
Trade ReviewAs a nation, the U.S. tore Africa children from their parents to sell and Indian children to educate at boarding schools. So tearing children from their immigrant parents is more the norm then the historical exception. Few protested then, few are aware today. This is why Greening and Haker's book is so crucial for such a time as this. Relying on professionals working directly with migrant children, here in the U.S. and Europe, the editors provide practical praxis based on academic research which could be implemented by our governments, our faith communities, ourselves. -- Miguel A. De La Torre, professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies, Iliff School of Theology
This book is a strong challenge to the way the United States and Europe treat unaccompanied migrant children today. Drawing on the experience of the children themselves, it provides careful social analysis of the sources of their mistreatment and issues a ringing call to change the direction of migration policy. The ethical arguments in this book are both compelling and urgently needed.
-- David Hollenbach S.J., Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Professor,Georgetown University
This is a powerful, moving, and motivating book. From Javier Zamora’s gripping and gut-wrenching poem; through the social scientists who immerse themselves and us in migrant children’s realities; the service providers who capture our own feelings of pain and powerlessness; the theologians who envision a more generous, just and faithful embrace of the vulnerable and tenacious young—we are reminded just how merciless and unrelenting our national policies can be. The take-away: Neither turn away nor despair. Register the gravity of this suffering inflicted on children. Make space for the compassion that nurtures solidarity and justice. Take action.
-- Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Molly Greening and Hille Haker
Part I
1. Unaccompanied
Javier Zamora
2. Childhood, Violence, and Displacement: Experiences of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children from the Perspective of Human and Legal Service Providers in North and Central America
Maria Vidal de Haymes, Adam Avrushin, and Celeste Sánchez
3. Trauma, Detachment, and Non-Belonging: The Plight of Migrant and Refugee Children
Stephanie N. Arel
4. Unaccompanied Refugee Children and Adolescents and Access to Vocational Training in Germany—with a Focus on Bavaria
Philip Anderson
Part II
5. Betraying Children’s Rights: Unaccompanied Immigrant Children in the United States
Katherine Kaufka Walts
6. The Curious Case of Jane Doe
Susan Terrio
7. Human Vulnerability and Vulnerable Rights: On Children’s Rights and Asylum Politics in Sweden
Elena Namli and Linde Lindkvist
Part III
8. Holy Family or Holy Child? Child Migrants as Vulnerable Agents
Cristina L.H. Traina
9. Toward a Moral Response to Unaccompanied Minors in the U.S. Context
Kristin E. Heyer
10. Justice as Responsibility to Child Migrants
Tisha Rajendra
11. Going It Alone—Political Ethics and the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children
Hille Haker
