Unaccompanied children living in transitional houses – voices from Sweden.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how unaccompanied minors perceive the time they spend in transitional houses in Malmö in southern Sweden. An important outlook when presenting the empiric data is to provide the perspective of the child, not just to have a child perspective (i.e. an adult perspective on children's experiences). Design/methodology/approach – The paper is the result of interviews with 11 unaccompanied boys living in transitional houses, i.e., group homes. The theoretical section has two purposes, to describe the Swedish context and the ambivalent discourse regarding immigrants in Sweden and to give a background on aspects that are relevant to understand unaccompanied minors situation. Findings – Even though many unaccompanied minors suffer from psychological difficulties and worries about the asylum process, the interviews show that the children in this study are generally content with the transitional houses. The staff strives to support them in coping with daily life, and strengthen their sense of coherence. Research limitations/implications – Since unaccompanied minors do not have family close by, the interviews shows the importance in different sorts of activities to promote wellbeing. A stronger focus on participation could also be a way of reinforcing the children's sense of coherence. Originality/value – This paper gives an insight to life in transitional houses from unaccompanied minors point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]