This text explores the challenges and possibilities involved in working with asylum seeking children and young people. Drawing on personal accounts and other narratives of forced migration, the authors encourage readers to recognise the depth and complexity of this work, as well as the potential that it can uncover. This book tells the whole story of practice, set in political and social context. In particular it considers: how current UK policy and legal frameworks can work best for children experiencing forced migration, resettlement as a political, legal and personal goal, a range of effective interventions, including group work, kinship care, foster care and the use of interpreters. With a strong emphasis upon recognising - and optimising - the capability of workers, helpers and the asylum seekers themselves, this text is invaluable reading for all those committed to improving the experiences of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Book jacket. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Ravi K. S. Kohli is Head of Applied Social Studies at the University of Bedfordshire, UK Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Notes on Contributors	ix
Introduction	xii
1 Telling the Stories of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children	1
2 The Legal and Policy Frameworks that Govern Social Work with Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children in England	16
3 Practitioner Stories	32
4 Assessment Practice with Unaccompanied Children: Exploring Exceptions to the Problem	48
5 Therapeutic Encounters between Young People, Bilingual Co-workers and Practitioners	61
6 Groupwork with Unaccompanied Young Women	77
7 Friends and Family Care of Unaccompanied Children: Recognising the Possible and the Potential	95
8 Using Foster Placements for the Care and Resettlement of Unaccompanied Children	109
9 Leaving 'Care'? Transition Planning and Support for Unaccompanied Young People	125
10 Looking Back, Looking Forward	141
Conclusion: Dwelling in Possibility	154
Index	157

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.