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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Protecting Children Affected by Armed Conflict and Displacement: An Introductory Training Module

Action for the Rights of Children, 2003

Training module outlining key principles concerning the protection of children affected by armed conflict and displacement. Topics include legal frameworks, identifying protection issues, threats to children in emergencies, and promoting healthy child development.

Community-Based Reunification and Reintegration of Separated Children in Post-Conflict Rwanda

Brigette De Lay, 31 Dec 2002

Programmatic methodology and key steps for reintegrating institutionalized children back into the community in a post-conflict environment. Contains comprehensive assessment toolkit in document annex.

Mobility Mapping and Flow Diagrams: Tools for Family Tracing and Social Reintegration Work with Separated Children

Brigette De Lay, IRC, 31 Dec 2002

Detailed guidance on using drawing with children to facilitate documentation and tracing efforts, as well as a tool for reintegrating separated children into families.

Case Study of the Care and Protection of Separated Children in the Sinje Refugee Camp, Liberia

Miatta Abdullai, Edwin Dorbor, and David Tolfree, 2002

This paper outlines the response of Save the Children to the civil war outbreak in Liberia. Using the concept of child participation, the organization was able to address the needs of the children, which included family tracing and reunification, child protection and education.

The Situation of Separated Children in Central Europe and the Baltic States

William Spindler, 2001

This report reviews childcare policy for separated children in the Central Europe and the Balkan States. It emphasizes the need to establish training, resources and effective procedures in order to meet the standards outlined in the Statement of Good Practice. Data from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia is presented.

Reuniting children separated from their families after the Rwandan crisis of 1994: the relative value of a centralized database

Maarten Merkelbach - International Review of the Red Cross, 30 Jun 2000

This paper presents the results of an audit to evaluate the efficacy of the central database designed to facilitate the reunification of unaccompanied children in Rwanda with their families.

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How to Help Children in the Aftermath of Hurricane Mitch

ISS, ICCB, DCI, and Save the Children Alliance, 20 Jan 1998

Guidance on the importance of preventing family separation and ensuring reintegration with families, communities or country of origin.

Action for the Rights of the Child (ARC): Separated Children

Save the Children Alliance, UNHCR, UNICEF and OHCHR, 1998

A training resource pack on preventing the separation of children from their caregivers, assessing and locating separated children, care arrangements, family tracing and reunification, and monitoring and supporting separated children.

Working with Separated Children - Field Guide and Training Manual

Save the Children, 1998

Comprehensive guide to programming for separated children. Includes chapters on agency co-ordination, prevention, documentation, tracing, reunification and emergency and interim care placements.

Family Tracing: A Good Practice Guide

Lucy Bonnerjea - Save the Children, 1994

The aim of this guide is to draw together SCF’s recent experience of family tracing.