Between risk and protection. The unaccompanied foreign minors

In recent years, the unaccompanied minors have become a stable component of the migration flow towards the EU, especially those fleeing from war contexts. Yet the literature on unaccompanied minors is - to date - still very limited and not exhaustive, unlike the literature on other groups of migrant minors, such as those migrating with their families or asylum seekers. The risk factors analysis is the perspective to which scholars have devoted most attention internationally. With respect to the UAM (Unaccompanied minors) condition, researchers substantially agree in deeming these minors at high psychosocial risk. Separated from family and from home country, they experience journeys very often punctuated by violence and deprivations, as well as difficulties in integrating in the new social context. After drawing a quantitative framework of the phenomenon in the EU countries, the paper presents the results of a qualitative research about the foremost critical issues on this topic. The failure of a European shared approach and the lack of durable solutions emerge as the most notable.