| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines separated young people’s transitions to adulthood in Northern France. The emergent research literature on separated children and youth has identified the transition to adulthood as a particularly challenging period in their lives and the phenomenon has attracted increased research and policy attention over the past decade in particular. There is nonetheless a paucity of research examining how separated young people navigate and make sense of this period, and even less that seeks to understand their experiences through a youth-centred, participatory lens.
The research, which aimed to examine separated young people’s experiences of and perspectives on the transition to adulthood, was initiated in 2017, during a period of notable debate on child protection and migration policies and measures targeting unaccompanied and separated children in France. During this time, policy, academic and media debate was also fuelled by the dismantlement of several migrant camps, such as ‘the Jungle’ in Calais, ‘Grande-Synthe’ in Dunkerque, and several camps across the Départements of Pas de Calais, the Nord, Ile de France, among others. Despite a lull in immigration flows across Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic, these flows have since increased, with significant numbers of separated and unaccompanied children arriving in France, Ireland and elsewhere throughout Europe.
Underpinned by a critical epistemology, the research mobilised a four-phased Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodological approach involving the conduct of focus groups (Phase 1), informal group and one-to-one meetings (Phase 2), in-depth interviewing (Phase 3) and follow-up member checks (Phase 4). During Phases 1 and 2, the participating young people also organised a number of social actions that centred on creating awareness of their experiences of the transition to adulthood. Phases 1–3 of the study were conducted from November 2018 to July 2019 and Phase 4 was conducted in January 2021. Using snowball sampling and purposive recruitment approaches, 12 separated young people aged 18–24 years who had presented to Child Welfare Services in the Département of the Nord as ‘mineurs non accompagnés’ (MNA) [unaccompanied minors] were recruited to the study. The PAR approach combined several data collection methods to generate a deeper, more authentic understanding of the young people’s experiences and perspectives through data triangulation. The study’s participatory, youth-centred process also facilitated the development of safe spaces where the young people were supported to share experiences and develop mutually supportive relationships.
Central to this PAR study, both methodologically and theoretically, was an investigation of the mechanisms of power. The methodological approach aimed to examine the possible interplay of power, drawing on the work of Fricker, Freire and Foucault, among others, with the aim of addressing any potential power dynamics between the researcher and the research participants. This approach was mirrored in the theoretical underpinnings of the study, within which conceptualisations of non-linear youth transitions were mobilised alongside a Foucauldian lens of structural and micro-relations of power. These methodological and theoretical approaches supported a detailed, youth-centred interrogation of separated young people’s transitions to adulthood and the various forces that shaped their lives.
The young people’s understandings of ‘adulthood’ and the ‘transition to adulthood’ were strongly connected to the notions of interdependence, maturity and being responsible. However, securing legal status emerged, both symbolically and materially, as a central marker of their progression towards adulthood and significantly impacted their daily life experiences. The findings uncover an intricate, complex, and nuanced journey to adulthood for the study’s separated young people, supporting research which has critiqued conventional and overly prescriptive age-related notions of adulthood. The need for continued formal support upon reaching 18 years and beyond emerged strongly from the accounts of the young people, who almost always experienced a stark and concerning lack of support upon reaching ‘institutional’ adulthood.
This thesis demonstrates that critical moments such as ruptures in care and housing had a significant impact on the transition experiences of the study’s young people. However, prolonged experiences of uncertainty and precarity, as well as experiences of discrimination and perceived injustices, also impacted their daily lives as they progressed towards adulthood. Thus, a central argument of this research is that the transitions to adulthood for separated young people must be understood not only through the significance of critical moments but also through their ordinary, everyday life experiences. The study’s findings demonstrate that the transitions of the study’s separated young people were dynamic and ongoing, with critical moments and ruptures as well as daily stresses influencing their transitions.
The findings of this research extend current understandings of the power dynamics at work in the lives of separated young people and their impact on transition experiences. Forms of ‘power over’, such as structural power and the micro-physics of power, were influential in shaping young people’s transition experiences. The effects of Foucault’s (1995) Panopticon were found, for instance, to negatively impact the lived realities, behaviour, and outlook of many young people. Despite the clear impact of ‘power over’ in the lives of the study’s young people, many exhibited ‘power to’ through displays of (constrained) agency amidst a multitude of daily challenges. In this sense, intra- and interpersonal protective factors worked to support them to cope with adversity.
The findings of the research draw sharp attention to the importance of using youth-centred approaches to understanding the lives of separated youth as they transition to adulthood. The thesis concludes with policy recommendations that highlight that separated young people are unique individuals with diverse life histories, backgrounds and country contexts, who need integrated, interconnected supports from the point of initial presentation to authorities as unaccompanied minors through to their transitions to adulthood and beyond. | en |
