Vulnerability and Well-Being: Unaccompanied Migrant Minors in Italy

Abstract

Tumminelli proposes a reflection on the condition of unaccompanied migrant minors considering the concept of well-being, how this can be achieved, what the possible risk and protection factors for achieving it are. Well-being is considered as a multi-level phenomenon connected to different and complex issues and to risk factors that in different situations become obstacles not only in the achievement of well-being but also in the relationship with the host society and with the reception system. The basic assumption is, therefore, that well-being is a direction, meaning and purpose given to one’s life in relation to the achievement of set goals. The theoretical framework of the article winds its way through different concepts such as violence, agency, capabilities and well-being, and the in-depth study focuses on the condition of unaccompanied migrant minors in the reception system, with particular reference to the young Nigerian women received in Sicily