5: UASC’s perspectives on care

Described image

In this section, you are going to focus on the perspectives of the young people who took part in the Children Caring on the Move (CCoM) project. We know from the research that the events that prompt young people’s migration to a new country are often traumatic and destabilise their sense of self. As they move through their migratory journey and continue to claim asylum, they each experience a ‘trail of events’ that transform their world, shake their identities and in the case of the study by Chase (2013), ‘set them on trajectories over which they had no control’ (pp. 862). However, the CCoM study had a specific focus, which was to explore their thoughts, feelings and perceptions of ‘care’. One way in which the team of young researchers (who were unaccompanied migrants themselves) and the research team undertook this exploration of care was through the collaborative development of a short digital film. The film is called ‘Stories too big for a case file’ and showcases the testimonies unaccompanied young people shared with us as they navigate the complex immigration-welfare system in the UK.

First, we explain how the film was created. Then, we have broken the film down into three parts and will ask you to listen to each part, and reflect on the content. If you have been experiencing some extremely challenging situations as part of your social care work with UASC, hearing their perspectives might evoke some strong emotions. As you listen to each part, attempt to put yourself in their shoes and think about how their views might be similar or different from your own. Where are the departures and why do you think there are differences?

5.1: Making the film