Municipalities take care of children from Ukraine who arrived in the Netherlands on their own

The main work on the reception and accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands falls on the municipalities (gemeente). Among the refugees there are persons under the age of 18 who arrived in the country on their own or accompanied by adults who are not their parents. Lonely minor refugees require special care and protection, and municipalities are ready to help them.

Under Dutch law, someone under the age of 18 must be officially responsible. If there are no relatives to perform this function, the Nidos organization takes care of the children. An employee of the organization attached to the child provides him with comprehensive assistance, including placement in a shelter.

Refugee shelters for minors are different from family shelters and require special training for staff. Such shelters have already been created and are ready to accept all Ukrainian children who arrived in the Netherlands unaccompanied by their parents. Thus, in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo, a shelter for Ukrainian minors was created, capable of providing quality care and supervision to 66 children. At the time of writing, there was only 1 child in this shelter. The municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo distributed a video message calling on the authorities to send unattended Ukrainian minors to them.

Since the municipalities are responsible for the reception and registration of refugees, the Dutch Council for the Protection of Children, Nidos and the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) have jointly developed Мanagement to identify street Ukrainian children and provide them with assistance for municipal employees.