Integration
Life
projects for unaccompanied children and other children in care are individual
care planning tools, which aim at supporting the child and the responsible
state authorities and service providers in planning and implementing a durable solution
for the child, in accordance with the best interests of the child. The
objective of a life project is to promote the child’s social integration and
personal development and support the child in acquiring skills and strengthening
the own evolving capacities necessary to become an independent, responsible and
active member of society. To this end, a life project pursues objectives
relating to all the human rights of the child in a comprehensive way.
Life
project planning should set in as early as possible and should be coordinated
with the process for the identification of a durable solution for the child, in
accordance with the best interests of child. A life project, therefore, does
not anticipate the decision on the durable solution for the child and supports
the child’s integration regardless of whether the child remains in the country
of arrival, is transferred or relocated to another state or returned to the
country of origin.
Orientations
for professionals working with unaccompanied children:
- Ensure
that the child is informed about the possibility to obtain support for the
planning and implementation of a personal life project, in a child-friendly
manner and in a language that the child understands, and facilitate the child’s
participation throughout all steps of the process, the planning,
implementation, periodic review, monitoring and evaluation.
- Promote
a broad and inclusive approach to life project planning and implementation,
taking into consideration all the rights of the child, the individual and
specific needs of the child, any risks and sources of resilience, with a view
to supporting the child’s transition to adulthood and independent life
regardless of where the durable solution is implemented.
- Ensure
that the life project planning and implementation process is coordinated by a
multi-professional group, while being child-centred, and taking into
considerations actors and support for the child from countries of origin and
destination.
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.
Drammeh,
L. (2010), Life projects for unaccompaniedmigrant minors,
A handbook for front-line professionals,
Council of Europe, Migration Collection, Strasbourg.
Family and Childcare Centre
(KMOP), Defence for Children International –
Italy (2015), ‘Arrival’, in: Resiland
, Participation,
capacities and resilience of children on the move against trafficking and
exploitation, Orientations for professionals and officials working with and for
children on the move, Athens, pp. 29-43.
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