Unaccompanied minors, the reception roulette and the uphill path to becoming adults

The first obstacle to face on the path to integration is age verification, with the associated risks of lack of original documents and the risk of being identified as adults. For minors, this opens the way to protection and the first issue of a residence permit, fundamental stages in the start of the path to inclusion. A process often hindered by bureaucratic slowness that risks compromising the entire pathway. The presence of a legal representative of the lone foreign child is important. "Often it is the pro-tempore guardian of the host community," explain Save the Children, "who has to fill this role for long periods, sometimes up to the age of eighteen and for many young people at the same time.

There is a gulf between the norms and reality. According to Save the Children's data, only slightly more than one out of every two minors (58.1%) in June 2024 was housed in second reception centres, Sai or extra Sai. Unaccompanied foreign minors are therefore often housed in minor Cas, Extraordinary Reception Centres or other types of emergency facilities. In these facilities, where minors should stay very little, only basic services are guaranteed. Unsuitable for the needs of boys and girls for longer periods. The institution of family foster care, promoted by Law 47/2017 as a priority with respect to structures, is still too little applied: as of June 2024, only 20.4% of the minors present in Italy were placed in families, but beware: of these as many as 87% were Ukrainian minors fleeing war. There were still many voluntary removals: from 1 January to 30 September 2024, of the 6,610 voluntary removals from facilities registered, 25%, or about 1,650 minors, definitively left the reception system, with all the related risks.

"From the point of view of reception," explains Manuela De Marco, Caritas delegate for the problems of unaccompanied foreign minors, "we have to deal with the lack of first reception facilities in line with the precautions and protections provided by law. Even the Sai, Servizio accoglienza integrazione (Integration Reception Service), is undersized compared to the needs and has a long and cumbersome procedure, which often does not coincide with the urgency of finding reception. And so in the end the Cas, which are temporary and emergency structures, become the backbone of reception. Added to this are the consequences of the Cutro decree, which in 2023 undermined, in the name of an emergency that was unmanageable, one of the cornerstones of the Zampa decree, which stipulated that minors and adults could not be brought together. The Cutro decree now provides that minors over 16, under certain circumstances, can be detained in adult centres for up to five months, in the case of extraordinary flows.

'Investments are needed,' explains Caritas delegate Manuela De Marco, 'in integration paths. For example, it is very problematic to attend training courses, which have a long and complex bureaucracy. Like the procedure for requesting the original qualification from the country of origin, which cannot always be shown. There has been an attempt to replace it with a declaration, for example, from parents. But it is a lottery'. Caritas called for raising the residence permit for unaccompanied minors to the age of 19 or issuing it without an opinion at the age of 18.

The institution of family foster care is still little used for unaccompanied minors. "Family foster care - underlines the Guarantor Authority for Childhood and Adolescence Marina Terragni - is actually still little used in the reception of unaccompanied foreign minors. This is mainly due to the complexity of the procedures for taking charge of minors and the lack of knowledge of the institution'. This is why the Guarantor Authority activated at the end of 2024 the project Affido - Promotion of family reception of unaccompanied foreign minors, financed with the resources of the European Asylum Migration and Integration Fund 2021-2027. "The objectives are," Ferragni explains, "to increase the number of local authorities able to promote and accompany the family foster care of unaccompanied minors; to network local authorities and third sector organisations that have developed tools and methodologies to support the institution; to strengthen connections with the European guardianship network. Fifteen municipalities, owners of Sai -System for Reception and Integration- projects for minors, have already been identified and will receive support for the provision of services to promote the fostering of unaccompanied minors".

Credit: Gianfranco Ferraro per Save the children

The Italian law's description of these young people is laconic. An unaccompanied minor is 'a minor who does not have Italian or European Union citizenship and who is for any reason in the territory of the State or who is otherwise subject to Italian jurisdiction, without the assistance and representation of his parents or other adults legally responsible for him according to the laws in force in the Italian legal system'. According to the Ministry of Labour report, last year 18,625 unaccompanied minors arrived in Italy, about 4,600 fewer than in 2023. They are mostly male (88.4%) those who arrived in Italy in 2024. Only 13.7% are between 7 and 14 years old. Almost 78% are over 16 years old (of these, 57% are 17 and 21% are 16). There are only 2,227 girls and they represent 11.6% of the total. They are mainly of Ukrainian origin, who came to Italy to escape the war. According to the dashboard of the Ministry of the Interior in 2025, 4,720 unaccompanied minors arrived in Italy from 1 January to 16 June 2025.

Credit: Gianfranco Ferraro per Save the children

Reception is only the first step in an integration process that must be able to provide guidance, to help young people in their studies, in their choices, in the realisation of their dreams. Including that of reuniting with family members in other countries. Lone minors arriving in Italy in 2024 come mainly from Egypt (3,792), Ukraine (3,503), Gambia (2,176), Tunisia (1,789), Guinea (1,512), Ivory Coast (2,884), Albania (586), Bangladesh (487).

Blowing out the candles on their 18th birthday for Italian boys and girls is a rite of passage into adulthood, a time of celebration with family and friends. An occasion to receive good wishes, unwrap presents and think about one's future. For unaccompanied minors arriving in Italy alone, however, that birthday is a traumatic threshold. A moment that can suddenly interrupt their growth path. Because when they turn 18, the roads diverge and only a few obtain from the Juvenile Court the possibility of being supported until the age of 21 in accessing the world of work, in continuing their studies, in finding housing. In short, in being able to benefit from a network of welcome and inclusion. The others have to fend for themselves. "All too often unaccompanied minors," recalls Niccolò Gargaglia, head of child protection at Save the Children, "remain for months in large centres with no opportunities and once they come of age they come up against bureaucratic obstacles and considerable difficulties in finding work and housing. Because once the 18 candles are blown out, the children must have a job and independent housing in order to stay in Italy, all achievements that require time and support. The document renewal phase is very difficult. During 2023, 11,700 new 18-year-olds left the reception and protection system. In the same year, 1,366 permits were issued following conversion from a minor permit. Fingerprints are taken, the application is made, then we wait. And the anxiety of these young people alone and with their future hanging on the validity of their documents grows.

Unaccompanied foreign minors who commit crimes should not be received by ordinary prisons, but by juvenile penal institutions. But this is not always the case. "At least half of the minors entering juvenile prisons are unaccompanied foreigners. The identification phase is very complex. Since they do not have documents - explains Irene Testa, Garante dei detenuti of Sardinia - it often happens that they are found in adult institutes and sometimes even in the CPR. Many of them come from very poor backgrounds, live on the streets, end up in petty crime contexts. With many difficulties they manage to access alternative measures or housing communities. A high number are remanded in institutions'.

"A key figure in the child's growth path," emphasises Niccolò Gargaglia, head of child protection at Save the Children, "can be the voluntary guardian, who takes the place of the parents in following the child's growth path. According to data from the Childhood and Adolescence Authority, the number of voluntary guardians of unaccompanied foreign minors is increasing. There are 4,273 on the lists kept by the juvenile courts, an increase of 6.59% from 31 December 2023 to 30 June 2024. The districts of the Court of Appeal where the largest increases were found are Genoa (58.33%), Florence (42.37%), Milan (20.11%) and Trieste (15%). There are 531 voluntary guardians, who provide free support, in Turin, 524 in Rome, 481 in Venice, 454 in Milan. The unaccompanied minors living in Italy are not just numbers, but young people with expectations and fears. With the hope of a better future. A future still poised between successes and failures, between victories and uphill paths.

According to data from the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Citizens and Institutional Protection of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, an estimated 2,115 unaccompanied refugee minors were living in Greece as of 1 June 2025. 93% were male and 7% female. 12.6% were under the age of 15.

As of the same date, 1,313 unaccompanied minors were living in reception centres, 211 in semi-autonomous flats (intended for unaccompanied minors over the age of 16), 97 in emergency reception facilities, 430 in reception and identification centres and 64 in refugee camps.

Capacity: 1,746 places in accommodation (centres for unaccompanied minors and semi-autonomous flats), 154 places in emergency accommodation.

According to data from the organisation The Home Project, in 2024 almost a third of all refugees who arrived in Greece (around 63,000) were minors. Of these, almost 60% were under the age of 12. Of the minors, 22 per cent were registered as unaccompanied or separated children.

Upon arrival in Greece, unaccompanied refugee minors are placed in special 'safe areas' within Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) under de facto detention conditions for up to 25 days in order to be registered. The state is required to appoint a guardian to have custody of the child, represent them in all dealings with the authorities, ensure their enrolment in school and access to health services, provide them with a social security card, support them in the event of violence, exploitation or discrimination, arrange for a lawyer, support family reunification procedures, and cooperate in promoting the placement of the child in a foster family.

However, due to the increase in the number of arrivals and the reduction in the number of reception places, there is overcrowding in the security areas of some reception and identification centres, where some unaccompanied minors remain in de facto detention for prolonged periods, some for months, with a total lack of access to child protection services and basic services such as healthcare, legal support and education.

In addition, the implementation and effectiveness of the guardianship system is tested in practice due to the long delay in appointing guardians, which leaves children without legal representation for many months, with the result that they remain without access to education, healthcare and legal support.

According to data presented by the METAdrasi organisation in mid-March 2025, 30% to 40% of unaccompanied minors who arrived in Greece in the last decade have close relatives in other European countries and wish to go and live with them as a family. However, they face reluctance from most European countries, which are doing everything possible to delay and ultimately sabotage the family reunification process. From 2024 to mid-March 2025, only 130 family reunifications have been completed and one third of the applications are still pending.

The vast majority of foreigners in the Czech Republic are refugees from Ukraine. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, a total of 1,073,303 persons of foreign nationality were registered in the Czech Republic, which corresponds to about one-tenth of the total population of the Czech Republic. Among the persons of foreign nationality living in the Czech Republic for a long time, Ukrainian citizens predominate (566,151). "The significant increase in the number of foreigners on the territory of the Czech Republic is mainly due to the granting of temporary protection to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war in their country," says the Ministry of the Interior. The Czech Republic also has the highest number of refugees from Ukraine per capita in the EU.

Since spring 2022, children without parents have been arriving in the Czech Republic from Ukraine. In 2023, the Commissioner for Human Rights and National Coordinator for the Adaptation and Integration of Refugees Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková stated that in the Czech Republic there are approximately 30,000 refugee children from Ukraine who have arrived here unaccompanied by legal representatives, two hundred of whom arrived alone without adults. Šimáčková Laurenčíková said that some of these young people are now living in reception centres and others have been placed with families, but many have ended up in children's homes. However, we do not know the exact number of Ukrainian children without parents in the Czech Republic.

The Office for International Legal Protection of Children claims that in 2023 a total of 115 unaccompanied refugee minors were living in the Czech Republic, 86 of them from Ukraine. The previous year there were 281, 147 of them from Ukraine. In addition to Ukraine, the office also mentions ten refugee minors from Syria, six from Turkey and six from Afghanistan. However, these figures refer to the number of children known to the Office for International Legal Protection of Children to be present in the Czech Republic, which certainly does not include all the children who are actually in the country.

Unaccompanied children are registered directly by the social workers of the Child Protection Department (OSPOD). The latter have information on their accommodation and provide them with assistance according to their condition and age. It is their duty to propose to the court the best solution for the child's custody that corresponds to each child's individual needs.

The assistance provided in these facilities is similar to that provided to Czech children, but with some additional services, such as the use of interpreters, legal counselling or more Czech language lessons.

Some NGOs also offer assistance, especially to older children and adolescents. "For a significant number of unaccompanied minors and young adults, life in the Czech Republic is very fragile and uncertain and it is difficult for them to maintain stability. Socially, economically and psychologically," says the non-profit Organisation for Refugee Aid (OPU). The organisation defines several recommendations for the reception and integration of unaccompanied migrant minors and young adults. These include the provision of affordable housing or the creation of appropriate facilities for long-term contact and the identification of needs.

Only a very small number of refugee children in the Czech Republic come from countries other than Ukraine (from countries such as Syria, Turkey or Afghanistan).

In 2019, Greece asked European countries to take in hundreds of unaccompanied children from Greek refugee camps. This appeal also reached the Czech Republic by letter. The Greeks asked the Czech Ministry of the Interior to take in 40 minors in need of urgent care.

NGOs and numerous public figures called on the government to accept unaccompanied refugee children. They also emphasised that the Czech authorities and security services are able to control the people and assess the risk. However, the Czech Republic has not accepted these refugees. Former Interior Minister Jan Hamáček stated that the Czech Republic could accept Afghans and Pakistanis between the ages of 16 and 18 from refugee camps in Greece, whom he considers a security risk.

In 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary had failed to fulfil their obligations under EU law by refusing the mandatory redistribution of asylum seekers.

Some of the detained migrants in the Czech Republic, who are under the age of 18 and have no parents in the country, were sent by the court to selected educational institutions. All children of compulsory school age, including those with refugee status, must attend primary school. They were often directed to Germany with no intention of staying in the Czech Republic.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse".