Housing pathways, not belonging and sense of home as described by unaccompanied minors^*

* Outi Kauko was the primary writer of the paper. Her supervisor, professor Hannele Forsberg participated in the whole process of preparing and finishing the manuscript. Her main role was to support and strengthen the coherence of the paper.

The research was conducted at University of Tampere, School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

ABSTRACT

This article reports the housing pathways of unaccompanied minors and refugee children (hereafter ‘UM’) in Finland. Of special interest are possible experiences of UM of not belonging as part of the relocations they have faced, and whether UM’s descriptions of their housing pathways include experiences of belonging and a sense of home that could be thought to assist with coping. The data consists of qualitative interviews with UM. As a result, for most of them, changes of residence were moderate in number and some of them had no memories of having moved. Some, however, had been relocated frequently. Nevertheless, the meanings attributed by the UM to their housing locations were similar in nature. The most painful experiences of not belonging were particularly associated with the arrival in Finland. The issue of home was ambivalent and had multiple meanings in the course of the housing pathways of the UM. UM highlighted many factors – such as an ordered everyday life – which a receiving country may use to help them in recovering a sense of place, belonging and future safety. Listening UM’s experiences offers a number of implications both for the practical work of helping them and the arrangements of the reception and care.

KEYWORDS:

• Unaccompanied children
• housing pathways
• not belonging
• home

Notes

* Outi Kauko was the primary writer of the paper. Her supervisor, professor Hannele Forsberg participated in the whole process of preparing and finishing the manuscript. Her main role was to support and strengthen the coherence of the paper.

The research was conducted at University of Tampere, School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

1. We use the term unaccompanied minors and the abbreviation UM as the interviewees are children who arrived in Finland as unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors and have been granted a residence permit at some point on their housing pathway, regardless of the grounds for the decision (e.g. refugee status, humanitarian protection) (cf. Wernersjö 2014, 11–12).

2. Group homes and group family homes are not child welfare units. Nevertheless, Section 60 of the Child Welfare Act contains provisions for the qualifications and number of personnel working in them.

3. An interest in children's accounts of loneliness on housing pathways is the primary focus, as the article is part of the first writer's thesis on the loneliness of children in different family transitions.