ABSTRACT
In the UK, there is an overwhelming emphasis in research and clinical practice on vulnerability. While focusing on an area of vulnerability for Afzhal, the approach also allowed for stories of survival and strength to be brought forth and celebrated. Stories of survival and resilience can be unhelpful for the legal process, as they risk being heard as evidence that the young person is strong enough to be returned to their home country. Refugee children and young people under the age of eighteen who arrive in a country without a parent or relative are described as unaccompanied asylum seekers: “those who are separated from both parents and not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, has responsibility to do so”. T. M. Bean found that professionals refused to offer interventions to separated children, arguing that the practical circumstances of their lives would interfere with any effect of therapy.
