L’accoglienza dei minori stranieri non accompagnati tra identità incerte e pratiche educative in divenire
Carlo Iato
The significant increase in recent arrivals of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in Italy raises specific questions about the reception system and educational practices. The condition of unaccompanied migrants forces the educators who take care of them to work in uncertain settings, and to produce strategies that must satisfy – technically and formally – the public contractor they work for, along with their professional capability to recognise and adapt both their own expectations and the foreign teenagers’ needs. A study of publications on this phenomenon, alongside listening to the experience of educators and of UASC, has enabled the author to focus on problems and potential solutions, drawing on his previous experiences with problematic minors, experiences that are very challenging to renew. Adolescence and adulthood, dependence and self-confidence, identity and integration, institutional mandate and educational mission, self-narration and shock are all terms that attempt to describe some of the constitutive uncertainties related to this educational setting, which needs to regain a mature educational intentionality, open to contamination from other disciplines.
Keywords
Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC), migration, educator.