Do health reception policies in the Nordic region recognize the rights of asylum-seeking and resettled refugee children?

Ambivalence towards the Protection of Refugee Children: A Developmental Relational Approach

In this paper we analyze the contemporary ambivalence to child migration identified by Jacqueline Bhabha and propose a developmental relational approach that repositions child refugees as active participants and rights-bearers in society. Ambivalence involves tensions between protection of refugee children and protection of national borders, public services and entrenched images. Unresolved ambivalence supports failures to honor the rights of refugee children according to international law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is failure to protect and include them in national public services and in international coordination of public health and wellbeing. We identify misrepresentations of childhood and refugeeness that lie behind ambivalence and the equitable organization and delivery of public services for health and wellbeing. With illustrative studies, we propose a developmental relational framework for understanding refugee children’s contributions in the sociocultural environment. Contrary to the image of passive victims, refugee children interact with other people and institutions in the co-construction of situated encounters. A developmental relational understanding of children’s ‘co-actions’ in the social environment provides a foundation for addressing misrepresentations of childhood and refugeeness that deny refugee children protection and inclusion as rights-bearers. We point to directions in research and practice to recognize their rights to thrive and contribute to society.

The Care Ethics of Child Health Nurses in Danish Asylum Centers: An Ethnographic Study

Child health nurses play an important role in promoting the health and well-being of children and families seeking asylum. However, little is known about how they establish caring partnerships with families in asylum centers. In this article, we examine the ethical care practices that child health nurses within Danish asylum centers adopt to overcome barriers, related to culture, language and migration history, in delivering care. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in four Danish Red Cross asylum centers, involving participant observation and individual interviews with 20 families and six child health nurses. A thematic analysis of the material reveals five ethical care practices; compassionate care, humanitarian care, flexible care, collaborative care, and supportive care. We show how the confluence of these types of care enables child health nurses to promote health and well-being of children seeking asylum, and discuss the enabling role of the humanitarian culture that prevails within the asylum centers.