1. ENSURE FAMILIES CAN PLAY A PROTECTIVE ROLE
A caring and protective family is central to a child’ s development, as recognised by the UNCRC. However, displacement coupled with traumatic experiences, inadequate reception conditions, a lack of information, parents’ lack of control over the situation they and their children are in, and uncertainty about their future can hinder the ability of families to provide a stable environment where children can develop and fulfil their potential.
All efforts should be made to support families in their role as primary caregiver and to keep migrant and refugee children in, or bring them back to, the care of their family within the community, unless this is assessed to be against the best interests of the child.
How can this be achieved?
• By supporting families to stay together if this is in the best interests of the child. Families should be supported through universal and targeted social services, psychosocial support and by allowing early access to the labour market for parents and other caregivers so that families can stay together. For instance, in the‘ Mellon’ shelter in Greece, single young mothers, many of whom were under high stress, received psychosocial counselling and support aimed at strengthening their parental skills.
• By improving the implementation of family reunification provisions to fully respect children’ s right to family, including through the removal of practical barriers such as deadlines for applying for family reunification, waiting periods before applying for family reunification and material and income requirements.
• By ensuring that families can still play an important protective role when children are unaccompanied or separated. Unaccompanied and separated children should be helped to stay in contact with their parents or primary caregivers unless this is not in their best interests. The practice in several cases examined in this publication including programmes by SOS Children’ s Villages Greece and Hungary shows that dialogue with families of origin is key to working together towards the best interests of the child, including decreasing the risk of unaccompanied children relying on smugglers. Children may be put under undue pressure or at a higher risk of exploitation due to limited legal and safe channels to reach protection, parents and families’ lack of adequate information on the risks of travelling irregularly, and unrealistic expectations about the possibilities for children to support their families. The experience of civil society shows that when caregivers and other professionals working with unaccompanied and separated children engage in dialogue with families of origin, this can help them to increase their understanding about the risks of travelling with the help of smugglers and the advantages of their children focusing on their education. As a result, they will be more likely to encourage their children to seek legal channels to either settle in the country where they live or to reunite with their family in another European country and to take advantage of available opportunities for education and training 1.
1 _ For the impact of stress and uncertainty on people’ s ability to participate in education and training, see“ Life in Limbo. The Consequences of Thwarted Mobility for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Other Migrants in Serbia”, Danish Refugee Council, September 2017, https:// drc. ngo / media / 3945615 / life-in-limbo-online. pdf.
139