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This chapter explores the diversity of migration regimes with reference to unaccompanied child migrants to reveal how they are forced to navigate complex legal systems, and the regulatory frameworks that are supposed to provide them with support and protection, but which all too often fail to deliver. The first section examines the role of scale in the development and implementation of migration regulations for unaccompanied youth. The chapter then considers border practices and the effects of off-shoring to process migrants applying for asylum, or as an attempt to reduce immigration. The chapter then focuses on the case of unaccompanied minors who came to Calais as part of their intended journey to the UK. The chapter argues that laws which are supposed to protect unaccompanied young people are not implemented in full, and that young people are not able to access the support which would enable them to benefit from these laws.

This chapter provides an overview of the issues faced by unaccompanied child migrants in their search for safety and security. It highlights legal definitions used in national and international law, and the rights that such young people can claim under those laws. It outlines the demography of flows of migrant youth, including numbers, nationalities, and gender. The diversity of the group is highlighted, along with the way in which their treatment and experiences vary significantly depending on how they are framed by the immigration and welfare authorities that they come into contact with. The chapter examines the role of a social justice framework in understanding migrant experiences, an acknowledgement of young people’s agency, and the role of social workers and others working with young people. The chapter finishes with an overview of the subsequent chapters divided into three main sections: framing the youth migrant debate, exploring migrant youth identities, and international perspectives.

This concluding chapter reviews the core questions addressed through the research and considers the implications of the findings for rethinking policy and practice. Young people are subjected to highly complex systems of immigration control intertwined with social support depending on their age, their status on the micro-level and, at the macro-level, a constantly shifting political landscape. Despite these constant shifts, the broad direction of the policy response has remained fairly constant. It persists in being shaped by state-centric views of migration, static conceptions of belonging, and a bias towards a political preference for return. Such path dependency underestimates young people's agency and willingness to embrace risk in their efforts to secure viable futures. The net result is a set of policies that fail to offer a durable solution or act in the best interests of either individual migrant young people themselves or society as a whole. Ultimately, unaccompanied children becoming adult is a global issue, a highly political issue and one that needs to be brought further to the fore in contemporary politics. It raises huge questions of responsibility and care for these young people in an increasingly globalized and connected world.

This introductory chapter provides an overview of youth migration. Youth migration needs to be understood in relation to its negative drivers of persecution, violence, and unsustainable lives in countries of origin, factors that motivated the flights of many young people. But at the same time, there is a need to recognize that such adversity also fuels individual and collective dreams and aspirations for better lives. Without acknowledging this, politicians will struggle to formulate meaningful and workable asylum and immigration policies. The chapter then briefly outlines the differing journeys that young people took in order to arrive in Europe. The chapter explains that the book focuses on how asylum, immigration, and social care procedures are operationalized once unaccompanied children and young people arrive in the UK and Italy, and the impact that these bureaucratic processes have on them over time.