BOURGUIGNON Lucie & LEMEE Tom
Nowadays and since a few years now, we are all living a new period about immigration: we are in an “immigration crisis”, as we can read in publishing headlines, caused by all the dramatic and violent situations occurring in many countries of the world. Because of this period and the number of people newly arrived in France, we are – in our practice of psychologist or future psychologist – sure to meet one day a patient originating from another country. And in some cases, coming from another country can reveal a lot of traumatic experiences depending on the reason of leaving, the migratory journey, or the condition of arrival in France.
Most of all, children are often set aside in this new life, in this new country: their parents are frequently concerned by the fact of move-in in France, by the nostalgia of the other country, by all the administrative papers to do, or dramatically by their own traumatic experience. In this kind of situation, parents fail or don’t succeed to give all the support, all the protection and all the attention that a traumatized of suffering child need. Therefore a psychologist shall know the signs and symptoms that a child can expressed in these situations, in order to engage a therapeutic process with him/her, and to give him/her back a child position.
In fact, the aim of this article is to deconstruct received ideas about children refugees’ lives in order to avoid prejudices and to be the most aware as we can about this problematic.
Legal meaning of « refugee »
The term « refugee » is depending on the Geneva Convention of 1951. This status shall apply to any person who « fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country… is unwilling to return to it » (Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les Réfugiés, 2007). A children can obtain the status at his/her own name, or obtain it by the principle of :
- Family reunification : The rest of the family stayed behind can joined the refugee in France.
- Unity of the family : The rights granted to a refugee are extended to members of his/her family.
The traumatic experience in the country
From our days, people flee theirs countries in order to save their psychic and physical lives, because of war, political violence, torture, death threat, rape, female genital mutilation or sexual orientation (Bailly, 1996 ; Malakoff, 1997 ; Jeria, 2004). The children are rarely safeguarded when those kind of situation occurs : they can be the direct target or the witness.
The implications of these events are often massive. It can be exarcerbated by the fact that parents are also victims, and as a consequence, failed in their role of protection.
The traumatic experience of exile
The leak of the country is usually made in dramatic conditions : non-anticipated departure, negotiations with smugglers, dangerous journey across the ocean or endless walk through countries. Because of these different conditions, the journey of exile can be more or less stressful, and the accumulation of traumatic events can be real.
In addition, the fact of leaving his/her country involve, for the child and his/her family, separations and bereavements : losses of his home, his friends, his habits, some members of his family, his language or also his culture. For the child (and his/her family), the variations and the novelties in our French habits can represent a chock, as well as an an opportunity to grow.
How the traumatic experience can be expressed : the clinical symptoms
Among children, psychotrauma can be expressed by variant symptoms (Bailly, 1996):
- Game reiterating the traumatic experience
- Blurred temporality
- Loss of future perspective
- Sleep disturbances, as the nightmares
- Revivification episodes of the traumatic events
According to Josse (2011), we can observed regressive symptoms, as the enuresis, the encopresis, dependence behaviour or separation anxiety. At last, as for adults, somatic symptoms, as amenorrhea, eczema, stuttering or bronchitis can be found (Damiani & Bailly, 2001). All the children depend on their culture, their social circles and their parents : the meaning given to the events, the symptoms and the defences wouldn’t be the same for all children (Romano, 2013), but we have to be aware of them in order to act.
In effect, it is a necessity to listen to the history of these children : their voices and pain are often lost in the flow of the adult world and its consequences.
Words I have learned
A smuggler : Un passeur
A bereavement : Un deuil
The novelty : La nouveauté
To safeguard : Protéger
To reiterate : Répéter
Revivification episodes : Des reviviscences
References
Bailly, L. (1996). Les catastrophes et leurs conséquences psychotraumatiques chez l’enfant : accidents, terrorisme, guerres, violence d’Etat, torture, catastrophes naturelles. Paris : ESF.
Damiani, C. & Bailly, L. (2001). L’enfant victime de violences : de la clinique à la réparation. Pratiques psychologiques, 2, 13-29.
Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les Réfugiés. (2007). Convention et Protocole relatifs au statut des réfugiés. Repéré à https://www.unhcr.org/fr/4b14f4a62
Jeria, M. (2004). 137. Les enfants réfugiés. Dans S. Lebovici (dir.), Nouveau traité de psychiatrie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent (pp. 2321-2336). Paris : Presses Universitaires de France. doi : 10.3917/puf.diatk.2004.01.2321
Josse, E. (2011). Le traumatisme psychique chez le nourrisson, l’enfant et l’adolescent. Bruxelles : De boeck.
Malakoff, M-E. (1997). Enfants réfugiés et violence. Dans C. Chiland & J. Gerald Young (dir.), Les enfants et la violence. (pp. 181-198). Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.
Romano, H. (2013). L’enfant face au traumatisme. Paris : Dunod.