Social Integration of Unaccompanied Minors into Swedish Society : A Qualitative Study of the Organization Vän I Umeå

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study is to explore the factor that impact the social integration of unaccompaniedminors into Swedish society with a focus on the roles play by a voluntary organization Vän I Umeåin assisting these children who seek refuge in Swedish society. These minors have often beenthrough a lot in attempting to get into the country and those who managed to get in in are facedwith the problems of integrating into a new environment. They face challenges such as languagebarriers, weather conditions that they are not used to, and migration policies that sometimes makeit difficult for them to be accepted into the countries. A qualitative study was made with an in-depth interview conducted with four participants, who have been actively involved in assistingunaccompanied minors for the past 10 years. The results showed that factors such as security,family support, friendship, language acquisition, sporting activities, migration policy, andassimilation are important factors for the social integration of unaccompanied minors into Swedishsociety. Social work intervention is also very important in leading these struggles of assistingunaccompanied minors to get socially integrated into a new society.