Introduction

We have chosen to begin this chapter by referring to Eva Hoffman's experiences of migration because these reflect, in important respects, some of the core experiences of transitions for people moving from one country to another, from one home to another, and in the case of those seeking asylum, from a place of harm to a place of safety. In all, moving on and settling down are two sides of the same experience of journeys being endured in the hope for stability and the re-emergence of calm. When young people become refugees, they often undertake such extensive journeys towards political, legal and psychological safety. They take risks. They find agents who transport them at a price outward and onward, sometimes to places they do not know, and to people who are strangers. Sometimes they come with siblings, but often they are alone, guarding themselves as they transit across countries and landscapes. They take time to make sense of what has happened to them and with whom and where they belong. In moving, they change in many ways, and as a consequence, while the first stop is safety, their journey has lifelong consequences for them and those around them. In this respect, Turton's (2004) examination of how people make sense of their place and position in a world of movement accurately summarises the transformative nature of forced migration. As forced migrants, these young people make the journey and the journey makes them. Their space and environment, their sense of transplantation and their view of their own identity all shift as the world around them changes.

For those providing care and protection after the border crossing, they are familiar and unfamiliar. They, like any young person growing up, are moving from childhood to adulthood, from dependence to independence, and in some instances from place to place, in seeking opportunities to realise their talents and ambitions, and to take charge of their lives.