Working With the Unaccompanied Child: A tool for guardians and other actors working for the best interest of the child

This report is part of the CONNECT-project, an initiative of Save the Children Sweden that was implemented by multiple partners in five EU Member States. The CONNECT-project was funded by the European Commission with the aim of improving the situation for unaccompanied children in the European Union, through increased knowledge, better exchange of existing practices and development of new ones. Nidos is one of the partners participating in CONNECT. In the Netherlands, Nidos is a national organization providing guidance and support to unaccompanied migrant children since the 1990s.

This document presents a cross-cutting view on the current state of affairs and serves as a transfer of knowledge from one specialist to another. It can also serve as a stimulating and learning document to less specialized actors who do have responsibility for or work with unaccompanied children. The reception, support, and regulation of legal custody is organized differently in each country, but the target group is the same and many aspects of guidance are also the same. Therefore, this tool is generally applicable to all who work with the target group: governments and NGO’s can assess whether their services are adequately skilled, have adequate knowledge of the target group and are covering all aspects of the work described. Guardians, social workers and reception staff can use the tool to reflect on their own work. Furthermore, the document could serve as a first step towards a practical European approach on the subject.

Link back to the main CONNECT page.