Migration: a double-edged sword for youth

Imagine a 16 year old Ukrainian girl sitting on a bench outside of her school, waiting for a bus. She doesn’t speak much English. She doesn’t have friends yet. A young man sits down next to her on the bench and smiles at her. She tentatively smiles back. He eventually tells her that his sister’s nail salon has a new opening, and she has very nice nails, and would she be interested in working there? She eventually accepts the job.  

"Youth migrants are placed into positions that
could lead to greater vulnerability and empowerment"

Maybe this man has done this girl a great service. Maybe they will end up being great friends, and she will support her family’s menial income. It’s also possible that he is taking advantage of her. Maybe she will end up working overtime without pay. Maybe he will hit her if she asks for a day off. 

The fact is that this migrant adolescent, having no social support in this country and desperate for a way out of poverty, is in no position to make this type of judgment. 

35 million adolescent and youth international migrants exist today. Youth are increasingly mobile, whether that is because of need, pressure, or choice. Here are three primary reasons for (as taken from this report)

1. Refuge – Natural disaster and conflict have led to 35 million refugees, a significant portion of whom are adolescents.
2. Opportunity – studies have identified a “culture of migration” among youth, where adolescents migrate in search of education, employment, and the hope for a better life. It has been estimated that between 1970 and 2025, the number of urban youth will increase by 600 percent.
3. Coercion – An estimated 250,000 children around the world serve as soldiers for government forces and rebel groups in armed conflict. Many are kidnapped and coerced. Others join out of desperation, including poverty. Youth often migrate to escape this fate.

Young migrants have the same needs as all other immigrants, but their needs are often particularly affected by displacement from their homes and separation from family. They often find themselves in high stress, high violence environments and struggle to find their way out. Attempts to gain independence often result in pressure to enter trafficking scenes and engage in survival sex.

The increased vulnerability of adolescents also implies that they must be treated differently when it comes to public health. The teenage years are seen as gateways to health because behavioral patterns adopted during this time tend to last through adulthood. Studies show that about 70% of premature deaths among adults are due to behaviors developed during adolescents. So where do we need to focus our efforts?

• Youth must be noticed. Specialized programs must be developed tailored to young people in refugee camps, immigrant communities, urban slums, and other displacement settings.
• Youth must be understood. Any programming developed needs to be culturally appropriate. Services must be aware of family circumstances, age, gender, and cultural norms.
• Youth need mentors. Adolescent immigrants are often living alone or with unstable social support systems. They need people who they can look up to be a positive force in their lives.
• Youth need access. Often living in poor areas, these youth need access to education, jobs, and information. They need proper health care and health education to support their reproductive and mental health.
• Youth must remain involved. Engaging in community not only builds a social network for these adolescents, but allows them to take ownership for systemic changes relevant to their lives.

For youth, migration is a double-edged sword. Young individuals are placed in positions that could lead to both greater vulnerability and empowerment. Whether the latter prevails is dependent on the attention communities devote to recognizing the problems of adolescent migrants and actively striving to solve them. As communities build supportive systems, it is imperative to keep adolescents at the forefront of solutions. 

IOFA’s work is dedicated to addressing this very issue. In 2003, IOFA helped develop Smooth Flight, a training film that shares the experiences of youth from Latvia as they go abroad in search of work, adventure, and opportunity. Just last week, we launched Project Prepare in Ethiopia, a program designed to empower youth aging out of care to make informed decisions about evaluating job opportunities and educate them on the risks they face as a new adults entering the world. 

Migration is often the last option for young people  who live in parts of the world  where it is virtually impossible to achieve economic stability. Immigration can be an incredible opportunity to experience a new culture, support family back home, and thrive as an independent adult. This is why it is important for IOFA to continue its work. Equipped with decision-making knowledge and confidence, there’s nothing that can stop these young souls.

Nikhitha Murali, Intern

Youth Leaving Orphanage Care: The Severed Family Connection

During our interviews, we asked 27 youth the question, “What can you tell me about your experiences after you left the orphanage?”

In response to this question alone, 8 young people reported returning to family’s homes after their exit from care. Six out of these eight young people stated they felt out of place in their family’s homes, or like their relatives “had their own family” to care for.

In their words:  

·         “…[I] wake up early in the morning, no time to sleep at night. If don’t do the work [my family] tells me to do, I regret it…I need to run away from this house.”

·         “They had their own family and didn’t treat me like their child.”

·         “Sometimes I can’t leave [the house], because for transportation I can only go with my auntie’s children when they let me and they feel resentful.”

·         “I did not belong there in [my family’s] place.”

10 other youth reported contacting their families when they left, but being unable to return home to them or receive support.

·          “They can’t help because they have their own family.”

·         “[My family] live in Svey Rieng. I visited them once, but will not visit again.”

Still others reported an entirely severed connection:

·         “I know where my family is in Takeo. When I was little they used to visit me in the orphanage. Now they don’t visit.”

·         “My family lives in Svey Rieng, but I have never been back.”

·         “I have no contact with my family.”

A recent study showed merely 28% of youth in Cambodian orphanage care are parentless[1]. In 2003, a study showed that families place their children in orphanage care primarily for the educational benefits, but families complained that they were either not permitted to visit their children once they were in care, or that the orphanage was so far from their homes they could not afford to visit[2]. In this same study, children in orphanage care frequently reported missing their families.

The damage to – or, in many cases, severance of – family ties has grim implications for youth when they leave orphanage care. Indeed, in nearly every culture, some dependence on family during adolescence and young adulthood (and beyond) is expected and often encouraged. This is particularly true in Cambodia, where family is generally upheld as a person’s primary responsibility and source of social support. A recent ethnographic study in Cambodia showed that a person’s family networks “help each other in whatever way they can, providing food, labour exchanges, moral support and, when possible, financial assistance…”[3].

As said by one of the youth interviewed: “Even if you have a good education, you can’t get a job without a network.”

According to a study conducted by our Phnom Penh partner, Project Sky, two-thirds of the more than 300 youth interviewed (who were still living in an orphanage) have some contact with relatives. Nearly half of these youth wish to live with their relatives when they leave the center. Importantly, of the one-third who are not in contact with relatives, 20% want to live with them.   

To some extent, it can be expected that the transition from orphanage care into a family home may be wrought with complications. The youth in an orphanage have been deprived of any responsibility for sometimes decades, have not learned basic house hold chores or agricultural skills, and have been raised in an oasis of Western-infused childcare, stripped of Cambodian culture. Their ability to function as a member of Cambodian society has been deeply impaired by their separation from society, which may only exacerbate the anticipated difficulty in rebuilding familial relationships upon reintegration.

Furthermore, youth raised in an orphanage are likely to exhibit the characteristics frequently associated with institutionalization around the world, including difficulty regulating emotions and building social relationships, cognitive limitations, severe psychological distress, and (culturally inappropriate) indiscriminate affection. We are asking youth who have been systematically disadvantaged to rely entirely on an education, devoid of necessary social skills, to independently reconstruct familial relationships with almost complete strangers in an environment likely already strained by poverty.

Youth around the world rely on family for any number of benefits, including protection. It is without question that by destroying family relationships, orphanages have gravely, if inadvertently, compromised the safety and on-going well-being of the youth who leave their care. 

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more blogs about our research.

- Susan Rosas
Program Development Intern   

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[1] *Worley, Mark. “In Orphanages, Only 28% Are Parentless.” The Cambodia Daily. March 21, 2011.

[2] Nakajima, Misako. (2003). Orphans in Cambodia: a case study of families and children in a public orphanage. Capstone Project. Brattleboro: School for International Training.

[3] Gartrell, Alexandra(2010) ''A frog in a well': the exclusion of disabled people from work in Cambodia', Disability & Society, 25: 3, 289 — 301 (296)

Young Adult Sets Self on Fire: Last Desperate Attempt to Express Himself

Youth riots in Tunisia bring to the world’s attention the danger of boredom and oppression, and the intrepid nature of youth culture to instigate change. The riots, caused by mass youth unemployment, increased in intensity when a young adult fatally set himself on fire – his last desperate attempt to earn an income (selling fruits and vegetables) was apparently thwarted by police, who confiscated his produce and demanded a permit that he did not have (see Associated Press article, link below).

The drastic measures and risk-taking associated with adolescence (albeit extreme in this instance) is to some extent biological – some suggest that the adolescent brain experiences a reduced “reward sensitivity” function, perhaps due to underdeveloped mesolimbic neural circuits, pushing adolescents to seek higher stimulation via risks (Crews, 2007; Spear, 2000); others suggest that an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex in adolescents reduces the brain’s inhibition function, which may lead to risk-taking (Keating, 2004).

Biology aside, these events show us, if nothing else, the importance of youth involvement in society, the economy, politics – this is an age group with dreams and aspirations, and the capacity to strive toward them. They can be powerful advocates for what is just, and the violence interwoven within these protests signifies the lack of legitimate venue by which their voices can be heard and injustices addressed. In the cloud of violence, we mustn’t forget that adolescents are our greatest hope for progress – their opinions need and deserve the channels through which to be heard.

- Susan Rosas, Program Development Intern 

Associated Press. Unrest over unemployment spreads in Tunisia (January 11, 2011). http://www.npr.org/2011/01/11/132837713/unrest-over-unemployment-spreads-in-tunisia

Crews F., He J., Hodge C. (2007). Adolescent cortical development: A critical period of vulnerability for addiction. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior: Adolescents, drug abuse and mental disorders.Vol.86, Issue 2, February 2007, p.196

Spear (2000). The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 24(2000) 417-463

Keating D. (2004). Cognitive and brain development. Handbook of adolescent psychology. 2nd ed.; 2004. p 45-84.