Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

"A Home of My Own": The Experience of Children of International Migrants

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Clinical Social Work Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There is a lack of research on children’s acculturation processes following international migration. As such, this article presents a study conducted among 10 latency-age children (10–11 years old), living in Israel, whose parents were work migrants/refugees/asylum seekers, via their artwork and through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. The findings revealed that the migrant children expressed their acculturation and sense of belonging to the host country through three main themes: (1) a longing to have a room of their own; (2) a wish to separate and individuate, as is typical of pre-adolescents and adolescents universally; and (3) the need to rely on their youth movement as an alternative to the family and as a bridge to Israeli society. An examination of the weaknesses of the children’s microsystems and mesosystems highlights the need for continued efforts to strengthen their connection with the macrosystem, which provides them with a sense of home. Findings suggest that art is a useful mode of expression that can help migrant children explore their past, present, and future lives. They also highlight the importance of changing existing exclusionist policies in order to improve migrant children's sense of belonging and security.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akthar, Z., & Lovell, A. (2019). Art therapy with refugee children: A qualitative study explored through the lens of art therapists and their experiences. International Journal of Art Therapy, 24(3), 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2018.1533571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babis, D., Lifszyc-Friedlander, A., & Sabar, G. (2018). “Now I am also Israeli”: From illegality to legality: Life experiences and identities of migrant workers’ children after receiving civil status in Israel. International Migration, 56(3), 173–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birger, L. (2020) “Permanent Temporariness:” Eritrean Refugees and social workers’ perceptions of Israeli policies and their implications for family well-being. In D. Roer-Strier, & Y. Nadan (Eds.), Context-informed perspectives of child risk and protection in Israel. Child maltreatment (Contemporary Issues in Research and Policy) (Vol. 10). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44278-1_12

  • Berry, J. (1997). Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 5–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W. (2001). A psychology of immigration. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 615–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 697–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.07.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W., & Hou, F. (2019). Multiple belongings and psychological well-being among immigrants and the second generation in Canada. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 51(3), 159–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W., Phimney, J. S., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation. Applied Psychology, 55(3), 303–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00256.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun-Lewensohn, O., & Al-Sayed, K. (2018). Syrian adolescent refugees: How do they cope during their stay in refugee camps? Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1258. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01258

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

  • Buck, J. (1981). The house-tree-person technique. Western Psychological Services.

  • Center for International Migration and Absorption. (June, 2016). Mapping children of asylum seekers and work migrants in Jerusalem (in Hebrew). Retrieved from https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/5d35de_194642be5bbf42d09a3dfaca1950b348.pdf

  • Chavis, D. M., Hogge, J. H., McMillan, D. W., & Wandersman, A. (1986). Sense of community through Brunswik’s lens: A first look. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:1%3c24::AID-JCOP2290140104%3e3.0.CO;2-P

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. (2011). Multimodal map making with young children: Exploring ethnographic and participatory methods. Qualitative Research, 11(3), 311–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111400532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donato, S. (2018). Migration and integration policies on social and labor market standpoints inside the European Union. In ICSR Mediterranean Knowledge (Ed.), Working papers series, vol. 2018 (pp. 17–48). Author.

  • Edison, T., & Curtis, J. (2007). Adolescent culture brokering and family functioning: A study of families from Vietnam. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Psychology, 13(2), 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.13.2.143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eliyahu-Levi, D., & Ganz-Meishar, M. (2016). Migrants’ children aged 15–17 position themselves in circles of belonging. Language, Discourse & Society, 4(1), 63–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliyahu-Levi, D., & Ganz-Meishar, M. (2018). "It will help me in life, that my life will be better”: Future Challenges for children of migrant families. International Migration, 56(3), 58–172. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. (1968/1994). Identity: Youth and crisis. Norton.

  • Ersanilli, E., & Saharso, S. (2011). The settlement country and ethnic identification of children of Turkish immigrants in Germany, France, and the Netherlands: What role do national integration policies play? International Migration Review, 45, 907–937. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2011.00872.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabiansson, C. (2018). Belonging and social identity among young people in Western Sydney, Australia. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 19, 351–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0540-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fazel, M., & Stein, A. (2002). Review: The mental health of refugee children. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 87(5), 366–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujii, C., Okada, A., Akagi, T., Shigeyasu, Y., Shimauchi, A., Hosogi, M., Munemori, E., Ocho, K., & Morishima, T. (2016). Analysis of the synthetic house-tree-person drawing test for developmental disorder. Pediatrics International, 58, 8–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/ped.12790

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fullilove, M. T. (1996). Psychiatric implications of displacement: Contributions from the psychology of place. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 1516–1523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furth, G. M. (2002). The secret word of drawings. Inner City Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomez, R., & Vannini, S. (2017). Neither here nor there: Notions of home and sense of belonging in the context of migration in a journey through participatory photography. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC). https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2017.tb00569.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochman, O. (2015). Infiltrators or asylum seekers? Framing and attitudes toward asylum seekers in Israel. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 13, 358–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodes, M., Vasquez, M. M., Anagnostopoulos, D., Triantafyllou, K., Abdelhady, D., Weiss, K., Koposov, R., Cuhadaroglu, F., Hebebrand, J., & Skokauskas, N. (2018). Refugees in Europe: National overviews from key countries with a special focus on child and adolescent mental health. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 389–399. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-1094-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou, F., Schellenberg, G., & Berry, J. (2018). Patterns and determinants of immigrants’ sense of belonging to Canada and their source country. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41, 1612–1631. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1295162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huss, E., Nuttman-Shwartz, O., & Altman, A. (2012). The role of collective symbols as enhancing resilience in children’s art. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39, 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2011.11.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Israel Population and Immigration Authority. (2016). Data on foreigners in Israel: Statistical on the main issues related to foreigners in Israel. Report of the Policy Planning Committee. Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Population and Immigration Authority. Retrieved from https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/foreign_workers_stats/he/q2_2016_0.pdf

  • Israel Population and Immigration Authority. (2017). Data on foreigners in Israel: Statistical on the main issues related to foreigners in Israel. Report of the Policy Planning Committee. Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Population and Immigration Authority. Retrieved from https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/foreign_workers_stats/he/q1_2017.pdf

  • Kalaf, L., & Plante, P. (2020). Restoring lost resources for young refugees: An integrative review of the resilience-building potential of expressive therapies (Restitution des ressources perdues pour les jeunes réfugiés: Examen par intégration du potential de développement de la résilience des thérapies d’expression). Canadian Journal of Art Therapy, 33(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08322473.2019.1684182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kayama, M., & Yamakawa, N. (2020). Acculturation, cultural self, and identity of Japanese children in U.S. schools: Insights from Japanese temporary resident and immigrant parents. Identity, 20(3), 188–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2020.1782914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kia-Keating, M., & Ellis, B. H. (2007). Belonging and connection to school in resettlement: Young refugees, school belonging, and psychosocial adjustment. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12, 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104507071052

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, M., & Park, J. K. (2011). Testing the moderating effect of parent–adolescent communication on the acculturation gap-distress relation in Korean American families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 1661–1673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9648-4

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kometiani, M. K., & Farmer, K. W. (2020). Exploring resilience through case studies of art therapy with sex trafficking survivors and their advocates. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 62, 101582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2019.101582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kowitt, S. D., Emmerling, D., Gavarkavich, D., Mershon, C. H., Linton, K., Rubesin, H., Agnew-Brune, C., & Eng, E. (2016). A pilot evaluation of an art therapy program for refugee youth from Burma. Art Therapy, 33, 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2015.1127739

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunuroglu, F., Yagmur, K., Van De Vijver, F. J. R., & Kroon, S. (2017). Motives for Turkish return migration from Western Europe: Home, sense of belonging, discrimination and transnationalism. Turkish Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2017.1387479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kushnirovich, M., & Sherman, A. (2018). Dimensions of life satisfaction: Immigrant and ethnic minorities. International Migration, 56(3), 127–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, J. (2018). Third culture kids: Growing up with mobility and cross-cultural transitions. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 13(2), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2018.1490718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. Y. (2015). Flow indicators in art therapy: Artistic engagement of immigrant children with acculturation gaps. Art Therapy, 32(3), 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2015.1060836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malchiodi, C. A. (1998). Understanding children’s drawings. Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meir, Y., & Slone, M. (2016). Research report: Mapping the developmental conditions in "children's warehouses": The unregulated day care centers where children of work migrants and asylum seekers in Israel stay. Tel Aviv University (in Hebrew).

  • Meir, Y., Slone, M., Levis, M., Reina, L., & Livni, Y. B. (2012). Crisis intervention with children of illegal migrant workers threatened with deportation. Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 43(4), 298–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesila. (2019). Summary report for 2018, Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality (in Hebrew). Retrieved from https://www.mesila.co.il/

  • Newbrough, J. R., & Chavis, D. M. (1986). Psychological sense of community, I: Foreword. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 3–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nuttman-Shwartz, O., & Shinar-Levanon, O. (2019). Asylum seekers in Israel: Challenges to social work. British Journal of Social Work, 49(8), 2283–2298. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcy129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla, A. M. (2006). Biculural social development. Hispanic Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 28, 467–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paz, Y. (2011). Ordered disorder: African asylum seekers in Israel and discursive challenges to an emerging refugee regime: New issues in refugee research. Research Paper No. 205. United Nations Policy Development and Evaluation Service.

  • Pearce, P. W. J. (2008). Bridging, bonding, and trusting: The influence of social capital and trust on immigrants’ sense of belonging to Canada. Working Paper No. 18 Série de documents de recherche No. 18.

  • Pink, S., & Kurti, L. (2004). Working images: Visual research and representation in ethnography. Routledge.

  • Quintana, S. M. (1998). Children’s developmental understanding of ethnicity and race. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 7, 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0962-1849(98)80020-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards-Schuster, K., & Pritzker, S. (2015). Strengthening youth participation in civic engagement: Applying the Convention on the Rights of the Child to social work practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 57, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.07.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schechter, M. D., & Combrinck-Graham, L. (1991). The normal development of the seven-to-ten-year-old child. In S. I. Greenspan, & G. H. Pollock (Eds.), The course of life: Vol. III. Middle and late childhood (pp. 285–318). International Universities Press.

  • Schimmele, C., & Wu, Z. (2015). The new immigration and ethnic identity. Population Change and Lifecourse. Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series, 3(1). Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/pclc/vol3/iss1/1

  • Schmitt, M. T., Branscombe, N. R., Postmes, T., & Garcia, A. (2014). The consequences of perceived discrimination for psychological well-being: A meta-analytic review article. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 921–948. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035754

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Zamboanga, B. L., & Szapocznik, J. (2010). Rethinking the concept of acculturation: Implications for theory and research. American Psychologist, 65(4), 237–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spiegler, O., Thijs, J., Verkuyten, M., & Leyendecker, B. (2019). Can children develop a dual identity when immigrant mothers feel homesick? A short-term longitudinal study among Turkish immigrants. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 16, 581–594. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2018.1482742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tartakovsky, E., & Walsh, S. D. (2016). Testing a new theoretical model for attitudes towards immigrants: The case of social workers’ attitudes toward asylum seekers in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47, 72–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022115613860

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (1991). Convention articles 1038 (published on 4 August 1991), Volume 31.

  • Ungar, M. (2013). Resilience, trauma, context and culture. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 14, 255–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838013487805

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, M. (2005). The complete guide to children's drawings. Mentor Press.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Orit Nuttman-Shwartz.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Winer, N., Nuttman-Shwartz, O. & Huss, E. "A Home of My Own": The Experience of Children of International Migrants. Clin Soc Work J 49, 325–335 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-021-00811-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-021-00811-1

Keywords

Navigation