Migrant children and local policies regarding reunified children in Spain

Abstract

The situation of migrant children is difficult to define due to its internal diversity. Among other factors, this diversity depends on the children’s age at arrival, the family’s socio-economic and cultural background, the characteristics of the receiving society, and whether a child travels with the family or alone. Another relevant distinction is the reason children leave their country of birth to travel to and settle in another country. In respect of international migration by children and adolescents, the aims of this chapter are: (1) to present the main trends of migratory dynamics before and during the economic crisis in Spain, migrant children in the educational system, and their career expectations as they become adults; and (2) to analyse local policies towards reunified children in Madrid and Barcelona. In Spain, both the statistics and the literature on reunified children are very limited. For this reason, the first part of this chapter focusses attention on migrant children, in general.