The SUMMIT project (Safeguarding Unaccompanied Migrant Minors from going Missing by Identifying Best Practices and Training Actors on Interagency Cooperation) was launched in October 2014 and ended in 2016. It addressed how the disappearance of an unaccompanied child is tackled in different Member States and promoted successful strategies and behaviours related to the prevention and response to the disappearances.

Facts about the topic

In 2014, very little was known about missing children in migration, although reports as old as 2005 referred to the fact that up to 50% of unaccompanied children were going missing from certain facilities in Europe. This project was the first one to explore with grassroots practitioners why children in migration leave-are pushed out of care and existing challenges in terms of prevention and response to the disappearance of children in migration. It also provided guidance and specific tools to improve prevention and response, based on good practices collected across Europe.


Impact

The SUMMIT project successfully combined the experience of actors which primarily deal with the care of unaccompanied children and those which focus on disappearances of children, including law enforcement and hotlines for missing children. The research study provided an overview of the challenges that informed several national and European policies, whilst the guidance became the basis for several trainings in different countries and was helpful to provide ways to improve cooperation across sectors and agencies.

Resources

Best practice and key challenges for interagency cooperation to safeguard unaccompanied migrant children from going missing – Download


Practical guidance on preventing and responding to unaccompanied children going missing – Download


Toolkit for frontline professionals – Download


Contact person

Louise Bonneau
Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer

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Partners

With financial support from the EU Pilot Project “Analysis of reception, protection and integration policies for unaccompanied minors in the EU”.

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