Preliminary Study: Unaccompanied Minor Refugees in Brandenburg

Abstract
The study aims to analyse the situation of unaccompanied minor foreigners (umA). The study aims to analyse the individual perspective of the young refugees as well as the municipal service structure of youth welfare offices and care facilities as they converge in the logic of the individual case. The preliminary study proposed here will focus on recording the perspective of the care centres from the point of view of the social workers. Exploratory and supplementary interviews with individual refugees will be conducted.

The preliminary study is proposed in order to address urgent questions regarding the evaluation and optimisation of services. The preliminary study provides a data-based material basis for a conference with key players involved in the accommodation and care of refugees in the state of Brandenburg. This will lay the foundation for a qualifying evaluation study, which is planned as a second step. This will also allow the multi-perspectivity of the case histories to be more comprehensively recorded. The evaluation aims to make recommendations for policy-makers, institutions and professionals. The aim is also to publish relevant research findings in a field that has been little investigated to date.

Key questions of the scientific study
Subject perspective: 
What characterises the umA group in the state of Brandenburg? What are the motives of the umA? How do the umA assess their flight and their situation in Germany? What are their possible motives for fleeing and how does this influence their situation in Germany? More generally: What interests and needs characterise their situation?

Structural perspective: 
How can the supply landscape be characterised? Where are there gaps in provision and predetermined breaking points? What problems can be identified? Which services work well and have possibly established themselves as "best practice"?

Future prospects: 
What recommendations can be drawn from this?

An exploratory preliminary study appears to make sense, particularly in view of the cultural diversity and high number of cases. The preliminary study has the task of gaining important insights into the complex field of reception and support of umA. Firstly, central topics, problems and categories are to be recorded in the field so that an in-depth study can be based on them. The longer-term evaluation study planned for the second stage will aim to record the multi-perspective case histories of the people involved. It is planned to focus in particular on the subject perspective of the refugees, the perspective of the youth welfare offices and Administration as well as that of the social workers in the youth welfare centres. This will result in more in-depth insights, statistical data collection, further differentiated recommendations for policymakers and, if necessary, a training concept for child and youth welfare professionals.

The overarching goal of the scientific research is ultimately to achieve an improved assessment of the group of umA and their situation in the state of Brandenburg. This relates on the one hand to the subject perspective of the umA themselves, and on the other hand to the structure of services. This study thus provides important prerequisites for optimised service planning. In this way, the study contributes to

to develop a more organised and customised offer landscape, 
the work situation of those involved and, above all 
improve the situation of umA in the state of Brandenburg. 
The research supports policymakers in overcoming the challenges posed by the influx of young refugees in the field of child and youth welfare and beyond.

Research approach/research and process design
The following procedure is proposed for the preliminary study: Firstly, field research will be carried out with the aim of recording 40 - 60 cases in the state of Brandenburg. In view of the complexity of the project - heterogeneity of the case histories, unclear life situations, frequent lack of German language skills, the need to use interpreters, the diversity of the situation in the districts, varying intensity of KJHG measures, etc. - we will focus on interviewing social workers in the care centres. Surveys on case-specific biographies, refugee backgrounds, case histories in the German support system, personal situations, etc., as well as the question of how these are presented from the social workers' perspective, should provide substantial insights within the project duration of six months. This will be supplemented by interviews with the refugees living in the analysed facilities themselves, but for pragmatic reasons in a realistic number of cases.

The focus is on young people from the refugee countries Afghanistan (614 cases) and Syria (432 cases). These are 44.4% and 31.3% of all umAs recorded in the state of Brandenburg (as of January 2016, MBJS figures). The preliminary study would therefore enable us to focus on three quarters of all cases. Another sensible restriction seems to be to focus the preliminary study on male refugees for the time being. Of the 1046 cases from the countries of origin Afghanistan and Syria, 20 are female and 871 are male (no information is recorded for 147). Despite the small number of cases (2.2 %), the female refugees should not be neglected. In view of the intention of this preliminary study to gain an orientating insight into the situation of the umAs in a first step on the basis of the most meaningful results possible, such a focus seems sensible in our opinion.

The field investigations and surveys in the preliminary study serve to acquire field-specific knowledge to improve the planning of a larger-scale second evaluation study. Research instruments for a more in-depth study can then be developed on the basis of these initial field investigations. The inclusion of a larger number of cases would be desirable as part of a larger evaluation study. It would be even more important to consider those involved in the help process: youth welfare offices, clearing centres, permanent placements, guardians, measures under Section 41, etc. The greatest importance would be to include the perspective of those affected in a sufficiently differentiated manner, which could then include the inclusion of other refugee groups (girls and other countries of origin).

The research data will be analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In addition, a thematic analysis is carried out with a view to retrospective and prospective assessments of the umA. The research results will be prepared in the form of a final report. Further publications in specialist journals and presentations at specialist conferences are planned. The results will also be used to prepare an in-depth, further evaluation study.