An increasing number of unaccompanied minors escape war and poverty in their countries of origin and travel to Europe to seek for protection and safety. Austria is a popular transit country and destination among unaccompanied minors. In 2015, around 8,300 unaccompanied minors lodged an asylum application in Austria. Our research explores the escape, arrival and everyday experiences of unaccompanied minors who are either in the accession process, in the asylum process or already hold an asylum or subsidiary protection. On the one hand, we elaborate on biographical narratives of minors’ escape from their countries and arrival in Austria. On the other hand, based on everyday experiences of unaccompanied minors, we analyze the structural discrimination against unaccompanied minors when being compared with Austrian children under the guardianship of child and youth welfare services. Not least, our data provide empirical evidence not only for discrimination in Austria’s two-class-system but also for the agency of unaccompanied minors who show the will to take control over their lives in a field of tension between longing for autonomy and connectivity and care. © 2016, Sozialwissenschaftliche Studiengesellschaft. All rights reserved.

unaccompanied minors Two-class-system Agency Austria

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