Registration, Documentation and Tracing

Registration and documentation of separated and unaccompanied children are essential steps towards tracing and reunifying children with their families. Such separation can be highly traumatic and requires immediate action by a designated body to expedite the process. This is particularly vital when children are very young and far less able to cope without parental care or to remember essential details about their home and parents.

Registration, documentation and tracing should be done in a co-ordinated fashion throughout a particular emergency situation, with all involved agencies using the same forms in order to avoid confusion and errors and ensuring that all documentation forms are included in a central, confidential database. The affected population should be given clear guidance on the process for registration and should be supported throughout the process.

All separated children should be registered as soon as they are identified. Their basic information must be collected, photograph taken, and medical screening done. All belongings and clothing should be listed and retained with the child. Particularly for young children, the registration process must include gathering information from any adults or older children who may be able to provide relevant information. In some situations rapid action can permit immediate reunification with parents or relatives, and such action should not necessarily wait until full documentation has been completed.

Parents and caretakers who have lost children should also be able to submit tracing requests. Children and adults should be kept fully informed of the process and reunited or in contact with located family members or relatives as quickly as possible.

Tracing of family members is the next step, even if family reunification is not immediately possible. The priority is to locate parents, other family members, or relatives in the area who may be able to provide interim care for children without adequate care. Precautions should be made when sharing information for tracing purposes to ensure the child or their family members are not placed at risk.

The literature in this section includes procedural guidance and documentation forms for registering and tracing children and parents, as well as descriptions of documentation and tracing programs.

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Monthly data collection on the migration situation in the EU: July 2017

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 20 Jul 2017

This report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) provides data on migration throughout the EU from 1-30 June 2017. The report includes data on the child protection situation for migrant children, particularly the identification, emergency placement and accommodation of unaccompanied children.

The Way Forward to Strengthened Policies and Practices for Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Europe

International Rescue Committee, UNHCR, UNICEF, 10 Jul 2017

This paper, based on findings from a consultative process with a variety of actors, captures a multitude of concrete recommendations for more efficient and harmonized policies and practices, taking into account the best interests of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in Europe.

Children on the move in Italy and Greece

REACH and UNICEF, 30 Jun 2017

This report presents the findings from an assessment on the profile, drivers and intentions of refugee and migrant children who arrived in Italy and Greece in 2016 and 2017 and aims to enable Italian, Greek and European policy makers, local service providers and humanitarian actors to provide appropriate accommodations and services for migrant children.

Child Rights in the Global Compacts: Recommendations for protecting, promoting and implementing the human rights of children on the move in the proposed Global Compacts

Jacqueline Bhabha and Mike Dottridge - Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts, 24 Jun 2017

This working document by the Initiative for Child Rights in the Global Compacts, a multilateral initiative supported by 26 organizations, provides goals, targets and indicators with respect to six priority issues involving refugee and migrant children.

Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

Sarah Uppard and Lili Birnbaum - Inter-agency Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children, 22 Mar 2017

The Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children compiles 56 tools for the use of practitioners working with unaccompanied and separated children (UASC).

Field Handbook on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

Sarah Uppard and Lili Birnbaum - Inter-agency Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children, 22 Mar 2017

This handbook offers comprehensive practical guidance on working with unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in emergency settings.

Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Sudan

Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Sudan - UN Security Council, 06 Mar 2017

The present report was submitted to the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and focuses on the trends and patterns of the six categories of grave violations committed against children.

Webinar: What have we learned from the Child Protection response to Ebola?

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 23 Jan 2017

On Monday, January 23, 2017, the Alliance’s Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) Working Group organized and led the webinar “What have we learned from the child protection response in epidemics during the Ebola crisis?”

View Webinar

Estimating child separation in emergencies: Results from North Kivu

Lindsay Stark, Beth L. Rubenstein, Hani Mansourian, Craig Spencer, Eva Noble, Makini Chisolm-Straker - Child Abuse & Neglect, 11 Jan 2016

This study presents findings from the first known population-based estimation of separation in an emergency setting.

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Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act - Philippines

Government of the Philippines, 2016

President Aquino of the Philippines has recently signed into law the “Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act,” an Act which ensures the protection of children “in times of calamity, disaster, and other emergency situations.”