Among asylum seekers in the EU, many are families with young children (0–4 years). In policy and practice, however, these children remain invisible. During the asylum proceedings, which can take quite some time, there is hardly any pedagogical offer available in reception centres nor are there clear policies to guarantee accessible, useful and meaningful ECEC. While there is ample evidence of the possible benefits of high quality ECEC, especially for vulnerable groups, these children often do not attend any ECEC provision. This article addresses this issue, by reporting on the results from the Erasmus+ Project ‘MyRef’, Multilingual Early Childhood Education and Care for Young Refugee Children (01/10/2016–31/05/2019) carried on in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. One of the main findings of the project was the almost complete lack of specific policy or attention for this group of young children and their families. In research as well, the very youngest refugee children have not been a topic of attention as such. In this article, we want to raise awareness on this group of children and their right to access to high quality ECEC.

DOI: 10.1080/1350293X.2020.1707366