First contact
Registration
Identification
Accomodation
First assistance
Age assessment
Family tracing
Relocation
Case assessment
Care planning Life project
Education and training
Work
Health care
Residence permit
Asylum procedure
Best interests determination
Identification of a durable solution
Implementation of a durable solution
Family reunification
Preventing Immigration detention
Turning 18: Leaving care
Aftercare
Ending guardianship
Aftercare
When
turning 18, unaccompanied children lose the special support they have received
thus far and are treated as adults. This change is often abrupt and connected
with many risks, such as the risk of becoming homeless, loss of or reduced
social, economic and educational support, the risk of dropping out of school or
vocational training programmes, and the risk of detention when the child’s
immigration status has not yet been regularised or they were ordered to leave
the country.
At
18, unaccompanied children are expected to become self-sufficient and
independent, even though their need of support does not cease abruptly at the
age of majority, in particular where children have been through difficult
experiences in their country of origin and during their journey, they will
continue requiring support as young adults and care leavers.
EU
Member States take different approaches to aftercare and some provide for the
possibility of continued support to young care leavers, up to the age of 21 or up
to 1025, as part of national alternative care systems.
The
guardian prepares the child for leaving care and informs the child about their
rights as young care leavers. The guardian advocates for the child’s right to
non-discrimination in accessing aftercare services and helps the child to build
a social support network. Guardianship typically ends when a child reaches the
age of majority, so that all preparations, such as applications for after care
services, have to be completed beforehand.
See
also:
Level 1: Child rights principles – Development
Level 4: Age and evolving capacities of the child
Reference:
EU training and learning platform for guardians of
unaccompanied children
Chapter 3: Session 3.2. From arrival to durable solution: promoting the best interests of the child in decisions andproceedings
Literature:
Council
of Europe (2007), Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)9 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on life projects for
unaccompanied migrant minors.
Council
of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (1996), Migrant Children: what rights at18?, Resolution 1996 (2014).
Council of the Baltic Sea States (2015),
Guidelines on the Human Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Transnational Situations, Council of the Baltic Sea States Children’s Unit and
Expert Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk, Stockholm, 2015.
Drammeh,
L. (2010), Life projects for unaccompanied migrant minors,
A handbook for front-line professionals,
Council of Europe, Migration Collection, Strasbourg.
FRA (European Agency for Fundamental Rights)
(2014), Guardianship for children deprived of parental care, A handbook to reinforce guardianship systems to
cater for the specific needs of child victims of trafficking, Luxembourg, Publications
Office of the European Union (Publications Office).
United Nations General Assembly (2010), Guidelines for the alternative care of children,
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the report of the Third Committee
(A/64/434) 64/142, 24 February 2010.
United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe (2014), Unaccompanied and Separated Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Children Turning Eighteen, What tocelebrate?, Strasbourg.