LITTLE CITIZENS

If juveniles are placed in classes of students who are not close in age, starting school becomes much more difficult, and many problems arose with juveniles who, having aged out of mandatory schooling, were not enrolled in high schools with teens their own age, but were placed in adult learning centers instead. In general, schools offered full cooperation to the program, although some had difficulties due to their lack of preparation for handling students with psychological problems brought on by their years in refugee camps. These issues were often resolved by calling in qualified professionals, such as psychologists.
In one, isolated instance, Caritas social workers ran up against the director of a school who refused to enroll refugee children until forced to do so by the police.
One interesting account came from two teacher volunteers who teach in the elementary and middle schools where the three children of a refugee family were enrolled:

The middle schoolers tend to be a bit more closed off than the elementary school kids, because it’s a more difficult age in general, and maybe they pick up on things that they hear at home that are not always positive or welcoming. So with them we really have to work to explain, and teach them how to be welcoming […] Another factor is that the elementary school children are much more dependent on the teacher, so they wouldn’t say something if they thought I wouldn’t like it, you see? While in middle school the kids tend to be more critical.