Key findings • The needs of unaccompanied migrant young people transitioning to adulthood with precarious or no legal status are absent from UK policy agendas. • Current policies governing possible outcomes for these young people particularly forced return to country of origin can undermine young people’s wellbeing and fundamental rights. • Returns policies are expensive and have unintended consequences such as re-migration and/or forced transitions to survival through illegal means. • The prospect and reality of forced removal have severe adverse impacts on young people’s health and wellbeing, often leading to protracted displacement over many years. • Forced return to countries of origin fails to acknowledge the connections and potential contribution made by these young people in the UK and underestimates the challenges to reintegration in countries they haven’t lived in for several years
