In the diploma thesis, I discuss the issue of social inclusion and exclusion of asylum seeking children. The influence on it is connected to the very perception of (international) migration from the perspective of the majority of the population and also from the perspective of various politics from different countries, including the European Union, and their measures, which are often mutually exclusive. When arriving to the receiving state, the ethnical identity of the asylum seeking child and national identity of the majority of the population meet. At that point, the asylum seeking child often appears to be one on the opposite side, ‘‘the other’’ and “the stranger” who does not share the dominant principles and values. The encouragement of social inclusion of children who are asylum seekers, depends not only on material welfare, but also on the individual’s social participation etc., following some important contributing terms and concepts discussed in the diploma thesis such as social networks, social capital and ecological-systematic approach. The ecological-systematic theory stresses the significance of different ecological systems including the family and culture, mutual relations, effects among them and with the children themselves. I included important actors of child’s ecological environment in the empirical part. These actors were school, family (parents), the asylum home and non-governmental organisations that work there. From their perspective and from the children’s perspective, I wanted to research social inclusion of asylum seeking children and of their families, cooperation among mentioned actors and to determine possible problems and recommendations for greater quality of social inclusion. Based on their establishing and maintaining social contacts, spending their free time, and the structure and the reserve of the children’s social networks (and also of their parents), I have concluded that asylum seeking children are not socially included to a sufficient extent. On the other hand, they are included in the school and asylum home to a good extent. The purpose of my research is to aid to the clarity of the state of asylum seeking children’s social inclusion through researching it and hence to influence the planning of possible further guidelines for the work with asylum seeking children.
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