Unaccompanied Refugee Children in the Netherlands: Their Living Environment and Mental Health

One of the major decisions affecting unaccompanied children’s lives after arriving in the Netherlands concerns the type of care facility that will best protect them while waiting for the outcome of their asylum procedure. Such decisions should be in line with their best interests (art. 3, 6 Convention on the Rights of the Child). This study focuses on the opinions of unaccompanied refugee children staying in the different care facilities in the Netherlands about their living environment and mental health.
Based on interviews with 132 unaccompanied children and the outcomes of the Best Interest of the Child Questionnaire (BIC-Q) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the results show that unaccompanied children in supportive care facilities face the lowest mental health problems. Children in foster care feel most at home and are most positive about their place in Dutch society. Children in small living units and small living groups often miss affectionate bonds, care, support and stability in their lives. Children in large reception centers struggle with the highest mental health problems: they often feel lonely and sad and feel they are outcasts in Dutch society.