Citation

Vervliet M, De Mol J, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. Br. J. Soc. Work 2014; 44(7): 2023-2041.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/bjsw/bct060

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Unaccompanied refugee mothers--young mothers living in another country and separated from their parents--are, in research and migration policies, often defined in terms of four social categories: refugee, unaccompanied, adolescent and mother. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty unaccompanied refugee mothers from different countries of origin and now living in Belgium to listen, first, to their feelings and experiences. These narratives revealed four central themes in the mothers' experiences (constrained and constraining daily living conditions, emotional challenges, connectedness and motherhood as a turning point), which appeared to be, in a second analysis, related to intersections between the four social categories. However, the intersectional analysis revealed large gaps between the mothers' and migration policies' interpretations of these categories: the mothers not only define the categories differently, but also set other priorities as they identify themselves first as mothers, while the policies prioritise their status as refugees. These findings, together with reflections on the value of adopting an intersectional perspective, lead to several recommendations for research, social work practices and migration policies.