Lengthy procedures that exacerbate the specific vulnerabili-
ties of unaccompanied children
The practice of foster care placements for unaccompanied and
separated children is new to Hungary, although there is an estab-
lished foster care system. The procedures and timelines for such
placements could be adjusted to address the situation of these
children. The current lengthy and complicated procedures increase
the risk of children leaving their assigned care units and becoming
victims of abuse, exploitation and trafficking.
LESSONS LEARNED
• Helping children to maintain their cultur-
al identity is an important factor for their
integration.
While integration into the local community is
important, children should also be given the
opportunity to maintain their cultural, lin-
guistic or religious identity. These elements
should also be taken into consideration while
matching children with foster parents. Secur-
ing the best match and avoiding significant
cultural differences requires a sufficient pool
of foster parents with diverse backgrounds.
At the same time cultural differences and the
fact that a young person has to get adjusted to
a new family environment may cause many
challenges in everyday life: tolerance, mutual
understanding and ongoing development
and support are essential to overcome these
obstacles.
78
• No one form of care suits all.
The type of alternative care placement should
be determined based on each child’s specific
situation, needs and wishes. To enable appro-
priate placements, different forms of fami-
ly-based care should be available, including
foster care. Children’s individual vulnerabil-
ities and risks of exploitation and trafficking
need to be taken into consideration when de-
veloping placement procedures and different
forms of family-based care. The development
of these forms of care should not jeopardise
appropriate child safeguarding measures.