Unaccompanied Minor Refugees and Asylum Seekers: Placement in Foster care and Adoption as Durable Solutions.

Abstract

At the age of 15, Nestor Tata watched rebel soldiers in Democratic Republic of Congo (hereinafter DRC) kill his father, and not long afterwards came home from school to find the murdered body of his mother. With no siblings or anyone else to turn to, he took his parents' savings from their hiding place under a mattress, packed a small bag and fled. He was afraid that if he stayed, they would kill him too. He then took a taxi to Kalemie, which is in eastern DRC, a boat across Lake Tanganyika, and a bus to Lusaka in Zambia. He still had no idea where he was going. After a month in Zambia and another two months in Zimbabwe, Tata made his way to South Africa where his youth and lack of English got him across the border despite having no documents.