Unaccompanied migrant children need continuous, practical and human-rights-based support as they move into adulthood. For many, turning 18 means facing a “triple transition”: becoming an adult, adapting to possible changes in their legal status, and building a life in a new social and cultural environment.

Preparing them for this transition, and supporting them afterwards, is essential to ensure that their rights remain protected. Recognising this need, representatives from the Ministry of Family and Social Services and their Provincial Directorates gathered for a Focus Group Meeting dedicated to strengthening support for unaccompanied migrant children as they enter adulthood. Discussions focused on critical topics, such as independent living skills, access to education and employment, psychosocial well-being, empowerment and continuity of support beyond child protection services. Participants worked collaboratively to identify challenges and needs, and to develop solutions and resources to better prepare these young people for independent adult life.

The findings from the Focus Group Meeting will guide the project’s future materials and activities. They will help ensure that support provided to professionals is based on real needs and strengthen their work with unaccompanied migrant children.

Moreover, a compendium of good practices on transition to adulthood, developed under the multilateral project “Building Futures, Sharing Good Practices: Migrant Children’s Transition to Adulthood – UACFutures”, has been translated into Turkish and distributed to participants. The compendium highlights promising practices for supporting unaccompanied migrant and refugee children as they transition to adulthood, serving as a valuable resource for practitioners working in this field.

Young people, in all their diversity, are drivers of change and progress. The Focus Group marked an important step towards more targeted solutions that recognise the multiple dimensions of unaccompanied migrant children’s well-being, ensuring that they receive the support they need to thrive as adults.

The meeting was organised by the Council of Europe project “Strengthening the protection of unaccompanied migrant children in Türkiye”, which is funded by Sweden.