While we focus on the never ending ups and downs of the EU/UK negotiations, Brexit is insidiously and surreptitiously becoming part of our daily lives, drawing new lines of inclusion and exclusion among ‘us’. It is perhaps inevitable given the circumstances, but it is still surprising when you capture it while it is happening to you. The point here is not to claim for EU nationals some kind of privileged treatment or position in the hierarchy of ‘foreigners’, is to observe how Brexit is penetrating our everyday lives, the way we interact with our friends, partners, colleagues, and neighbours, and how it is forcing new meanings in what were usual conversations and interactions.
It all finished with a laugh. “I already have a jacket and spectacles like yours, Nando. Need to work a bit more on the curly hair though”, H. said enabling everyone around the table to take a breath and move on from the conversation. But how did we get there? Let me rewind it a bit. We had spent the day around a table in a room in central London with our research team and a group of colleagues and friends, mostly practitioners and advocates for migrants’ and children’s rights. The room is painted in a vibrant yellow with the autumn leaves adding some extra colour through the large balconies. We arranged the workshop to share in a close group of critical friends the findings of our research on former unaccompanied minors. How to translate the empirical findings into meaningful recommendations for policy makers and practitioners? This is the question…
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EU families & Eurochildren in Brexiting Britain 