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CCoM is an ESRC-funded project studying separated child migrants' care experiences and roles within England’s immigration-welfare system.
The project takes place amid a rise in the number of children separated from their primary carers during migration. It also addresses the conflicting state claims of protecting children while enforcing immigration control.
'Care' is unclear in this context. Children may get care due to their 'child' status. However, they may also be left out of support because of their 'migrant' status. CCoM fills a gap in research, law, policy, and practice. So far, these areas have focused on parent or state care while neglecting children's care for each other.
Our pilot studies show that this neglect has created a gap in theories of care. As a result, policies and practices meant to support separated child migrants can sometimes harm, exclude, or discriminate against them.
CCoM uses participatory methodologies alongside an analysis of the cultural political economy of separated children’s care. It provides new insights on how separated migrant children’s caring practices affect stakeholder responses to immigration control and protection tensions within the UK state. It also examines the results of these responses for separated migrant children.
Administration
The project is led by Sarah Crafter (OU) and Rachel Rosen (UCL). They are joined by academic colleagues from UCL (Elaine Chase, Veena Meetoo), the University of Bedfordshire (Ravi Kohli), the University of Liverpool (Helen Stalford), the University of Northampton (Evangelia Prokopiou), and the University of Oxford (Ellie Ott). Kamena Dorling, Head of Policy and Law at Coram’s Children’s Legal Centre, joins the team as an expert consultant.
It is affiliated with the Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education