Relational Challenges for Social Workers with Unaccompanied Migrant Minors

Abstract

The chapter addresses the issue of social work for UAMs as a specific area of social work that deals with providing support and protection to minors who are in a country other than their own, ensuring that they receive the support they need to overcome difficulties and reach their full potential, providing them with a safe and secure environment in which to grow and develop. The aim of the interventions is to provide UAMs with resources, support and access to the opportunities available in the host country so that they can become active and participating citizens. For truly inclusive reception pathways, it is fundamental—in addition to the availability of resources and interventions—also and above all the relational context in which the interventions are implemented; it is the relational quality of the help and support pathways that significantly contributes to the resilience of minors and young people.