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). Objectives ‐ To help the professionals understand new requirements, adjust their pedagogical expertise including ethical questions. To this end, SCHEME will transfer an innovative method, based on the analysis of decision-making processes. This method aims at the improvement of action potential and skills and with a proven track record, it will improve the social work models, the tools to support objective decision making and the expertise of the professionals involved. ‐ To set up interdisciplinary territorial synergies in the form of a cross-cultural observatory and research-action work based on current data (anthropology/intercultural ethnology), using cross-referencing approaches. This cooperation will enable them to better identify sources of migration both legal and illegal, to better understand Unaccompanied Minors’ routes, to identify social and cultural integration values and to capitalize on success criteria. This capillary work from the existing networks will also make it possible to get out from representations. ‐ To carry out a MOOC as a knowledge transfer tool (anthropological profile, bibliography, cartography, evidences, videos, existing projects) to better understand trajectories, better support UM and identify their skills for sustainable economic and social integration. In order to enrich the Observatory dimension, SCHEME will involve countries facing different kinds of migration such as countries that have recently begun to experience migration due to the modification of usual migratory routes (Greece, Spain), countries that are experiencing mass migration due to many diverse issue such as access to their "health" system (France) and home or transit countries (Senegal - Morocco). Taking into account cultural affiliations and migratory routes will make it possible to respond to several key issues, to co-elaborate sustainable solutions based on the skills and creativity of Unaccompanied Minors.
The objectives that we have achieved in terms of needs are : Equip professionals to deal with new requirements, by adjusting their pedagogical expertise, in order to improve social work models, objective decision support tools and the empowerment of the professionals involved. Set up territorial interdisciplinary synergies in order to deepen research based on current data, cross approaches to better identify the sources of migration, better understand the paths of unaccompanied minors, identify values of social and cultural integration and capitalize on criteria for success. This work by capillary action from existing networks also allows us to move beyond representations and disciplinary compartmentalization. Develop the professional practices of social actors by giving them a methodology that promotes the development of the power to act of the entire support chain, from decision-makers to beneficiaries, in this case unaccompanied minors. Set up the transfer of knowledge, to better understand the trajectories, better support unaccompanied minors and identify their skills for sustainable economic and social integration.
The finding : - growing increase in the number of children exiled in Europe (more than one third are minors, largely without family in the host territory or on the migratory route) - professionals who have to face new "emergencies" due to the modification of migratory routes, by a change in the typology of migration, implying permanent adaptation to new profiles - the need to help professionals of the social field to better understand migratory trajectories, their challenges and consequences in order to adjust support methods. - a lack of consistency of actions with regard to unaccompanied minors From this observation, as part of a holistic, cross-cultural and territorialized approach, so that professionals develop more tailored responses in terms of understanding and support, we were able to meet the needs : - Empowerment of social workers, - Sectoral decompartmentalization in order to respond to the isolation of some, - Objective knowledge about the migratory routes and the reasons for it, - Sharing best practices t international level, - Transferability of knowledge to as many people as possible, - Efficient and local networking