{"id":26025528,"date":"2018-07-18T08:51:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T05:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/pr-guardianship-network-conference-2\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T16:16:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:16:20","slug":"pr-guardianship-network-conference-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/pr-guardianship-network-conference-2\/","title":{"rendered":"METAdrasi\u2019s Guardianship Network for Unaccompanied Minors: Our experiences next to 4,133 children we know by their name"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div><\/div>METAdrasi, after four years of implementing the \u201cGuardianship Network for Unaccompanied Minors\u201d activity, organized on Thursday 12 July 2108, a Conference entitled \u201cAll children have a name\u201d. The conference\u2019s theme was the results, issues, challenges and best practices in the context of the institution of Guardianship.<\/p>\n

The institution of Guardianship was for decades practically non-existent in our country. In 2014, METAdrasi cooperated with NGOs of other European countries that possessed long experience and expertise, in order to create the selection criteria as well as an integrated system of training, supervision and co-ordination for guardians of unaccompanied minors.<\/p>\n

In the beginning of 2015, METAdrasi\u2019s first 12 authorized Guardians started in the pilot project. Today, there are up to 65 Guardians who are active in 12 locations throughout Greece, having taken up until now the support of 4,133 unaccompanied children, taking care for their best interest and ensuring for them access to asylum, healthcare, education and any activity necessary for their psycho-social development.<\/p>\n

In its first steps, the activity was supported by the Bodossaki Foundation<\/a>, with funding by EEA Grants<\/a>, later by the Embassy of Switzerland<\/a>, UNICEF<\/a> and Avaaz<\/a>, while in the recent years the support of the UNHCR<\/a> has been significant. At the same time, the cooperation with the local Public Prosecutors is of pivotal importance.<\/p>\n

The Conference, which was held with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Greece, was welcomed with speeches by the Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity Theano Fotiou, the Supreme Court\u2019s Public Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Greece Caspar Veldkamp, the Deputy Director General of DG Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission Simon Mordue, the\u00a0\u00a0Head of Sector Asylum, Migration & Borders of\u00a0the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights Adriano Silvestri, as well as representatives from UNHCR and UNICEF, while at the discussion panels participated many representatives from national entities and Greek and international organizations as well as the Public Prosecutor of Chios Spyridoula Stavrati.

\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div>
\"Metadrasi<\/div><\/div>During the Conference and for the first time in Greece, METAdrasi presented qualitative statistical data, such as that the 35% of the unaccompanied minors in Greece are children seeking family reunification with a relative in another EU member state, while 15% are living in homelessness in Athens and Thessaloniki.<\/p>\n

The main issues discussed were the new law\u00a0on Guardianship and its implementation in a way that the essential support to unaccompanied minors will continue, the funding problems of accommodation facilities and how they affect the Guardian\u2019s work, issues regarding the first registration of unaccompanied minors at the borders, the necessity of cooperation between the state and NGOs, as well as the importance of the creation of a model of responsibility sharing among all the EU member states, for the effective protection of the unaccompanied minors. In particular, METAdrasi presented the example of the settlement – outside the framework of relocation or family reunification – of 5 unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan to Portugal in March 2017, thanks to the cooperation of METAdrasi with Portuguese Organizations and the dynamic participation of the children\u2019s Guardians. Today, these children have completely integrated in the local community and they are still in contact with their Guardians.<\/p>\n

During the Conference, a video was shown, with testimonials and stories of members of METAdrasi\u2019s Guardianship Network and \u201ctheir children\u201d:<\/p>\n

Majed\u2019s* success, who finished the school year with very good grades, won a scholarship to attend a private school and plans to become a teacher in a school for refugee children.<\/p>\n

Tareq\u2019s* case, who underwent a heart surgery – during which his Guardian took care of all the necessary procedures while being steadily by his side – managed to overcome his serious health problem and now, with his doctor\u2019s consent, he plays in a volleyball team, while in two years he plans to pass the Panhellenic exams to continue his studies.<\/p>\n

Tareq\u2019s* case,\u00a0who, after having undergone heart surgery – during which his Guardian took care of all the necessary procedures and stood by his side – he overcame his serious health issue and,\u00a0with his doctor\u2019s consent,\u00a0he started to play volleyball, while in two years he plans to pass the Panhellenic exams to\u00a0enter university.<\/p>\n

Sumaya\u2019s* hope, who located her brother in Germany and started the process for their family reunification with the wish to be accepted in a dental school in Germany.<\/p>\n

Basim\u2019s* story, who, with his Guardian\u2019s support, managed to walk again and make a new start in his life, standing on his own two feet.<\/p>\n

\u201c90% of these children will\u00a0one day\u00a0become European citizens\u201d, mentioned METAdrasi\u2019s president Lora Pappa. \u201cIt is in everyone\u2019s interest and close cooperation is necessary in order to protect them from the first day they arrive on their own in European ground. Today\u2019s conference, by chance, coincides with the\u00a0adoption\u00a0of the anticipated Law on Guardianship, just two days ago, which constitutes a very important first step. The next steps regard the implementation of the law, an especially difficult venture, to which METAdrasi will contribute with the expertise, best practices and mainly with the experience, as to ensure that every child will not be just a number, but will continue to have a name, just like every other child and will continue to have \u201ca person of their own\u201d that will strive every day on the field for their best interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

*The children\u2019s names have been altered, in order to protect their personal data<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press Release<\/a>
\n12 July 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":387728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,126],"tags":[431],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-26025528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-press-room-en","tag-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26025528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26025528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26025528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26112662,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26025528\/revisions\/26112662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26025528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26025528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26025528"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metadrasi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=26025528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}