Providing a home for Europe's unaccompanied migrant children

SOS Children's Villages is a non-profit group that services more than 80,000 kids. Their successful model emphasizes love, family, and relationships, even though the children aren't being raised in a "traditional" family.

Every migrant child applying for asylum in Sweden gets a public lawyer and an assigned guardian. Although a rapid rise in asylum seekers in 2015-16 strained the country’s migration system, Sweden has not resorted to putting children in detention centers and remains a leader by international standards in migrant children’s services.

"The Nest" in Tijuana is a space for migrant children to relax and be themselves during a very stressful time. "The Nest" was established by the Pedagogical Institute of Los Angeles and sits across the street from a shelter where many of their students live. Parents and other migrants also benefit from the space which they describe as stress-relieving.

Support and counseling from trusted volunteers empowers young women to stay in school and out of child marriage. In Nepal, the Sisters for Sisters program was the result of a governmental effort to reduce child marriages. Volunteers, many of whom were child brides themselves, help fight stigma and cultural pressures by leading discussions with young women on topics like sexual health and life choices.

Justice In Motion helps Central American people who were separated from their children by the U.S. government when they attempted to migrate into the U.S. One lawyer in Honduras has succeeded many times in her three dozen searches for parents who lost contact with their children and themselves are hard to find. Justice In Motion and its allies are suing the government and try to help parents with their asylum petitions, in addition to seeking family reunification.

The Poetry Project provides a platform for young refugees to create poetry, share their stories, and learn about German culture. The initiative started with weekly meetings for 7 young refugees to workshop poetry about the refugee experience, including leaving loved ones, why they left, and how they feel in their new home country. Their live performances have won prizes and their audiences respond emotionally. The group’s success allowed it to expand to more participants and reach a wider audience. The experience helped some participants integrate more smoothly into German society, where they have thrived.

A German organization called Uber den Tellerrand brings together refugees and locals for a meal handmade by those who migrated from Syria and Iraq. The meal brings people together over a delicious meal, offers authentic food from those countries, and allows those cooking to feel like they are giving back to the community. Another initiative to aid the resettlement process is a program called Start with a Friend (SWAF) pairs locals and newcomers to develop friendships and help refugees better learn the language along the way.

One way that any ordinary citizen can lend a hand to the plight of those caught in the American immigration system is by being a court observer: someone who sits in immigration court and takes notes by hand. Several organizations are working to develop a standardized way of evaluating judges' treatment of migrants to put it in a central database so that the data can be used to evaluate the human impact by the system as a whole. People who participate testify to the job alleviating despair over the situation as they can mitigate any unfair practices going unnoticed.

World Relief Durham hosts a summer program for kids. Like other summer programs, it is meant to reduce summer learning loss—but this is specifically for children from forcibly displaced families. The kids face unique challenges in school and in society, often having been witness to traumatic experiences, so in this program they take lessons, play games, and work with community volunteers to let them just be kids. The program started with 25 participants in 2017 and grew to serve 150 children in 2019.

Art therapy allows minors in detention to cope with stress and trauma. In “Uncaged Art: Tronillo Children’s Detention Camp,” an art exhibition housed at the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens at the University of Texas at El Paso, displays works of art created by unaccompanied minors detained at the US-Mexico border. Nonprofits like Annunciation House and the International Rescue Committee are also using art to make migrant shelters more accommodating to the needs—and stresses—of children’s experiences.