A large number of the refugees arriving in Germany are unaccompanied minors, who have made the trip without their families. Manuela Schwesig, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, reported to the Cabinet on how the state is ensuring that they are found appropriate accommodation and care.
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Children and young people coming to Germany from their own countries without their families are specially dependent on the state. To ensure that these minors are protected, it is up to the state to act as legal guardian.
To ensure that these young people are given the care and support they need, the German government passed a law that came into force at the start of November. The aim is to respond to the special needs of unaccompanied minors, by introducing a state- and nation-wide obligation to take in these young people. The law provides for children and young people to be allocated across the country, easing the burden on individual local authorities.
Until the beginning of November, the youth welfare office where children or young people were first registered as entering Germany was responsible for taking them in and finding them accommodation. This meant that the lion’s share of the responsibility rested with the youth welfare offices at certain major entry points. The burden on some local authorities was enormous, as the number of unaccompanied minors entering Germany continued to rise. In some places the capacity limits were so overstretched that it was extremely difficult if not downright impossible to provide appropriate accommodation, support and care.
Since the beginning of November, a good 15,000 unaccompanied children and young people have arrived in Germany. They are still in the care of the local youth welfare offices. About one fifth of them have been transferred to other federal states, under the provisions of the new law. Together with the young foreigners who entered Germany as unaccompanied minors prior to 1 November, a total of around 57,000 unaccompanied minors are in the care of the child and youth services.
The federal government is supporting local authorities in their important work: it is contributing 350 million euros a year to help cover the costs.
In addition to this the six regional service offices of the programme "Willkommen bei Freunden" (welcome among friends) are assisting local authorities. The service offices provide advice and training for local authority staff, as well as helping set up local alliances that bring together authorities, associations, education facilities and refugee facilities. The programme is to run for four years with funding of 12 million euros.
In the year to come, the Federal Minister for Family Affairs is also planning a nation-wide guest family project. Guest families are the right option for some of the children and young people: in a family they find a home, somewhere where they can feel safe, and people who help them find their feet in Germany. The planned project provides for ways of finding families to act as guest families and voluntary guardians, and giving them the training they require. To ensure that they have the support they will need, the specialists in child and youth services must also undergo further training to prepare them for their new duties. This too will be part of the project.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, minors arriving as refugees are entitled to appropriate shelter, care and support. Unlike adult refugees they are placed with foster families or in child and youth care facilities.
In 2014 most of the unaccompanied minors arriving in Germany were about to reach the age of majority: 70 per cent were 16 or 17 years old. Younger and younger unaccompanied minors are, however, now arriving. Almost 90 per cent are male. Most come from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea and Somalia.