Supporting separated migrant children to thrive during COVID-19

2019年，近1.4万名离散移民儿童（SMC）向欧盟申请庇护（Eurostat 2019）。没有父母/照顾者在身边，他们与支持网络、社会工作、教育和法律服务以及同龄人的联系至关重要。2019冠状病毒病大流行对这些网络和服务的影响，对SMC在英国的福祉和发展能力、社会和教育构成了紧迫的风险。该项目旨在研究SMC（12 -18岁）如何经历COVID-19危机，以及它如何影响他们与网络和服务的连接。它将确定服务如何适应他们的需求，并将在整个英国传播良好做法。将引入并评估一项干预措施，使SMC有机会表达他们对这次和其他危机的感受，同时发展英语语言技能。跨学科研究团队将采用混合方法设计。它结合了对儿童、他们的照顾者、监护人、社会工作者和教师的在线访谈；来自干预的互动数据与儿童博客/叙事/诗歌，以及与利益相关者的在线讨论。调查结果将为在线资源的开发提供信息，其中包括简报和工作文件以及年轻人的工作和评论。项目团队将与CoramBAAF（确保研究结果与其他在英格兰、北爱尔兰和威尔士与SMC合作的人相关）、Hands Up基金会（提供以艺术为基础的干预）、苏格兰监护服务（在项目期间支持SMC）和Terre des Hommes（发展项目在欧洲范围内的影响）合作。与这些合作伙伴以及在线研讨会和会议的持续合作将加速产生影响并建立可供所有人使用的资源，以便在当前和未来的危机期间支持SMC的工作。

Almost 14,000 separated migrant children (SMC) applied for asylum in the EU in 2019 (Eurostat 2019). Without parents/caregivers close by, their connections to support networks, to social work, education and legal services, and to peers are vital. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these networks and services poses urgent risks for SMC's well-being and ability to thrive, socially and educationally in the UK.The project aims to examine how SMC (aged 12 -18) experience the COVID-19 crisis and how it has impacted on their connectivity to networks and services. It will identify how services have adapted to meet their needs and will disseminate good practice throughout the UK. An intervention which gives SMC the opportunity to articulate their feelings about this and other crises, while developing English language skills, will be introduced and evaluated. The interdisciplinary research team will adopt a mixed methods design. It combines online interviews with children, their carers, guardians, social workers and teachers; interactional data from the intervention alongside children's blogs/narratives/poetry, and online discussions with stakeholders. Findings will inform the development of an online resource, comprising briefing and working papers and young people's work and commentaries. The project team will work with CoramBAAF (to ensure findings are relevant to others working with SMC in England, Northern Ireland and Wales), Hands Up Foundation (to deliver an arts-based intervention), Scottish Guardianship Service (to support SMC during the project) and Terre des Hommes (to develop the impact of the project Europe-wide). On-going collaboration with these partners and online workshops and conferences will accelerate impact and build resources that will be available to all in order to support work with SMC during the current and future crises.