Negotiating Home: Enabling and Constraining Factors in the Homemaking Practices of Asylum-Seeking Children in Brittany

Based on socio-ethnographic data generated for my PhD thesis (Reslinger, 2024), this paper explores the homemaking practices of accompanied asylum-seeking children (AASC) in Brittany and, more precisely, their ability to create a sense of home. It examines how their status within an adult-centric asylum process is shaped. I identify three critical factors influencing these practices: accommodation conditions, opportunities to build social and cultural capital, and access to knowledge.

First, accommodation is central to fostering a sense of home for AASC. Suitable living environments support interaction and relationship building, including access to child-friendly amenities like electricity, internet, and entertainment (e.g., PlayStations). Formal rental agreements, parental engagement, and proximity to child-focused spaces, like schools and parks, further support stability. These elements offer AASC a degree of security and familiarity within their otherwise precarious circumstances.

Second, opportunities to build social and cultural capital are crucial to children’s integration. Community engagement, such as help from retired teachers with homework, fosters language acquisition and social bonding. Institutional support, including social workers facilitating extracurricular participation, strengthens children’s sense of belonging. However, children’s ability to build social capital is limited by the constraints of the asylum process. Parents' restricted social networks and the family’s uncertain legal status can hinder children's engagement and emotional investment in homemaking.

Finally, access to knowledge, particularly regarding the asylum process and local cultural practices, is essential for AASC. Understanding local play cultures and social norms helps them form peer relationships, while sudden changes in accommodation or lack of communication regarding their legal status disrupt their sense of home. The uncertainty surrounding the asylum process can cause disengagement, highlighting the need for consistent, transparent information and stable living conditions to support children’s homemaking practices.