ABSTRACT

This chapter reports on the experience of young refugees in Holland and the efforts of social workers and others to assist them. Young asylum seekers entering the Netherlands are from far away places including Somalia (37%), China (16%), Angola (9%) and Ethiopia (8%). These young people are called Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers, in DutchAlleenstaande Minderjarige Asielzoekers, and this is abbreviated to AMAs or UAs (unaccompanied asylum seekers).1 They are under age 18, arrive without parents or guardians and apparently have no relatives in the country.