Description of the integration initiative implemented
- social services operated by NGOs and associations as a great and almost only support, without helps from family and community

- public policies as support and on the same time as a break and difficulty

Personal story
Cassandra left Angora, her country, with her elder sister when they were children of only 7 and 8 years old in 2005. They followed the instructions of their neighbors who took care of them after their parents left their hometown with their two little brother and sister.

They arrived first in Holland where they spent 5 years in a host family, as they were told to. They had to leave Holland, because apparently their parents didn’t want them to be adopted and arranged for them to come to France.

Theirs parents always kept and still keep secret about the reasons why they left Angora and why they never tried to get in touch with them after their arrival in France. For Cassandra, it might have related to the fact that her father used to be in the army controlled by the opposition party in Angora during the war that is finished in 2002. She left the country in 2005 and her parents in 2003 or 2004.

They were immediately sent to the associations who told them the suitable places for these two young girls to go: one association called “Children of the world”. Cassadra was only 14 years old and spoke no words in French. She conversed with her sister in Portuguese or Dutch language. She spent 6 months with her sister there after a medical certificate of bone testing proving that they were still minors, since for the reasons that she didn’t really know, they had only a birth certificate of Angora when they arrived in France, no any documents attesting their stay in Holland or any identity documents such as their passports. From this children’s aid home, they were referred to another social center specialized for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children where she stayed until she was 18 years old. She had to leave this center because she is not more a child but an adult.

She got the studio – independent apartment only for her - from this association who paid for her daily expenses until she got her 21 years old. The young people like Cassadra, from 18 to 25 years old, have rare help from the state:

- they are no more children, so nothing from the children’s protection social services;

- they have less than 25 years old, so they cannot have the RSA (minimum revenue only for those who have 25 years old and more ).

Cassandra learned one important thing from the children aid home: look for social workers and ask for help.

She got her “young adult contract” to cover her needs from 18 to 21 years old: it serves to ensure that the young person leaves the ASE system (child welfare system) and makes the transition to adult life. It is positioned between professional integration and personal protection.

Cassadra tried by all means and found a temporary work in an enterprise, thanks to the help of her social worker. She worked as an assistant for 9 months. But when she had her birthday of 21 years’, she was told that she had to leave the studio, because the service is only for the young people from 18 to 21 years old.

Cassadra got some help from the company where she worked and some of her friends took her in their house. She needed to leave the Paris region to stay with one friend. For several months, she travelled daily by train to come to Paris, looking for job and helps from social workers in different social services and associations.

She was referred to a social work permanence of the City of Paris specialized for young people 18-25 years old. From there, the social worker helped her to get professional integration and training opportunities provided by Mission Locale, another state social services for young adult less than 26 years old.

She finally got a permanent contract as secretary working in one social work association who helps homeless people, handicap, refugees and other people who need aids. This job stability helped her to get a social housing, after spending several years in a “residence sociale” – an intermediary housing before getting a social housing.

She highlighted how difficult it was for her and her sister to feel lonely in the children’s center and said that finally she learnt how to find solutions herself. It’s a traumatism for her to live two times where she had nowhere to go simple because she got her birthday and become adult.

With her sister, they managed to find their parents, who have 7 more children after their arrival in France. The weak family ties, the lack of community supports and friends, all these elements make Cassandra to think firstly the social workers when she has some difficulties.

Despite all the helps she got from the social welfare system for children, Cassandra regrets, however, the violent transitions when she felt again being abandoned.

She wants to continue her studies, because she understands that’s very important if she wants to have a good career and she knows that she must fight alone for her future. She didn’t get her high school diploma in the difficult time. Her employer helped her to get an equivalent certificate after one year’s training, and she knows that if she wants to get a bright future, she needs more education and diploma.

Very lately, she understood that she could have had the opportunities to ask for French nationalities the moment she got her 18 years old. But since she had to leave the welfare center and nobody informed her to do so, nowadays, she is still holding a temporary resident card despite all the years she spends in France and a permanent job contract.

After a special measure announced by the Prefecture of Police who gives more opportunities to obtain the French nationality for those who stayed in their work during the tough Covid period in 2020, Cassadra decided to seize the opportunity and send her demand for her nationality with the help of her social worker. Step by step, Cassadra fights for her integration in the society and in the family where she was long time non included.

Analysis of the initiative and individual story
The story of Cassandra shows the ambivalence of the social welfare system for child care in France, in her case for the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children who have both problems in family inclusion and socio-juridical integration.

She benefited lots of helps, without which, she would not have a job and a house as she has now. But still, we would like to highlight the break moments when she got her 18 years old and 21 years old. There were seldom anticipated help for her to prepare the transition from minor to adult, or from young adult to adult, in the administrative categories and in the public policies.

Cassandra didn’t decide her migrant initiative at all: it was always the decisions of her parents, who didn’t recognize their family ties in the legal way neither explained the reasons of their exile. She was almost an orphan without really being one, and staying alone.

The only help Cassadra had was the social work and social services that got around her and these services were chained to limit their actions, or even to be violent, when Cassandra is not more the target public receiving their services. The situations create more breaks in Cassadra’s life path despite theirs helps to limit other breaks and damage.

Results and Impact
- high trust to social services and social work and no fear to ask for help;

- lack of stability in housing or accommodation solutions contributes to difficulties to have access to more education opportunities;

- work opportunities and stabilities provide and enhance security both in financial autonomy and housing solutions;

- lack of high education diploma reduce job opportunities and makes difficulties in the labor market;