We live in a time when climate disasters, political violence, religious and social persecution, and imperialist wars worsen the international refugee crisis, and children are some of the most vulnerable in the tragedies of forced migration. UNICEF reports that “Children make up less than one third of the global population, but almost half among the world’s refugees in 2020. … The refugee population is much younger than the overall migrant population.” It recorded that almost 1 in 3 children who live outside their motherlands are child refugees, while the estimate for adults is less than 1 in 20. The UN Refugee Agency records an estimate of 35 million child refugees, most of whom are unaccompanied by an adult. These numbers show that as of 2020, 42% of displaced peoples from forced migrations are minors.
Attachment Theory
One theory that connects a child’s development to their earliest relationships and experiences is attachment theory. The theory posits that the attachment between caregiver and child or infant has a significant impact on the child’s later social formation and physiological development. John Bowlby, one of the creators of this theory, defines attachment as “a bonding process between infant and primary caregiver (usually the mother) that satisfies innate needs of the infant for physical contact, closeness, and safety,” which explains that the infant’s developing brain and body will depend on early nurturance or a lack thereof. In other words, a lot of who we are and how we relate to one another today are tremendously (although not entirely) determined by our earliest experiences.
There are different kinds of attachment styles, and the following are simplified descriptions of each one.
Secure attachment:
Anxious attachment:
Avoidant attachment
Attachment Theory and the Refugee Crisis
To view the refugee crisis from an attachment lens is to become aware of how forced migration trauma will shape child refugees’ relationships later as adults—even after rebuilding their lives over time. How does the sudden loss of contact with one’s family affect the experience of trust in later relationships? Will there be an aversion from intimacy or an anxiety to try to keep it? The theory helps prove that shelter does not always equate to safety, and that providing food, housing, clothing, etc. for refugee children is not enough to protect them. There are studies proving that the deprivation of relational care—human contact, even—can increase children’s mortality rates.
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