Unaccompanied asylum seeker minors face a major change when they turn 18. They have to leave their current home at a youth shelter, and move to a regular shelter. For them, this is not simply a change of location, they lose their existing support and living conditions. It is especially difficult for this vulnerable group as it triggers an earlier trauma of forcefully leaving their home. In this project, we focus on how design can positively impact their preparation for this transition.
How can you best prepare young asylum seekers to leave their home?
Unaccompanied asylum seeker minors housed in special youth shelters face a major change when they turn 18. In their current shelter, they receive personal supervision, live amongst peers, and create a home. At 18 this drastically changes as they have to leave and go to a regular shelter focussed on mass housing. This change is especially difficult for this vulnerable group as it not only ends a relatively stable period, but it also triggers an earlier trauma of being forced to leave their home. So how can design have a positive impact on this transition?
In collaboration with two asylum seeker shelters and together with supervisors, behavioural experts, and asylum seekers, the designer researched the lives of asylum seeker minors with a focus on the months around the transition to an adult shelter. The designer used creative methods and an open approach to gain valuable insights and create opportunities for design.
In this way, we were able to develop the Fly out, Land well Kit. This Kit helps minors leave their current shelter with confidence and settle well in their new shelter.
The Kit is introduced in their last six months at the minor shelter and serves as a tool for minors and mentors. It consists of two parts. The Bridge is used by mentors to visually and tangibly communicate the transition. Each minor receives a Booklet, where they focus on their personal journey, reflect, and create a memento. Together, the Bridge and the Book guide both the mentor and minor through the transition process.
The teenage and coming of age period is an important developmental period for every youngster, and especially for this vulnerable group. A feeling of home, community and support is essential for young unaccompanied asylum seekers. Our current systems have difficulty providing this, and most of their existing support stops when they turn 18. Ideally, they should be given extra support even though they are then designated as adults.
The Fly out, Land well Kit helps these young asylum seekers become independent and prepares them for this change in support.
The designer, Mirjam de Korte, has created the first kits to be used at a shelter for minors in Rotterdam. Now the Kit will have real impact on the lives of young asylum seekers.
