Minors

One in three residents in reception centres are under eighteen. Most of them arrive in Belgium together with their parents. Families with children live in family rooms at the reception centres, providing for more privacy.

As is the case with all minors in Belgium these children also attend school. Newcomers are usually sent to a separate class where they first prepare for general education and learn our language quickly. They are then sent on to a normal class, in line with their educational level.

Unaccompanied foreign minors

Minors who arrive in Belgium without parents or family follow a different route than adult asylum seekers. The Government organises customized care for all unaccompanied foreign minors.

Observation and orientation centre
Initially unaccompanied foreign minors are sent to an observation and orientation centre. Fedasil has two such centres in Steenokkerzeel and Neder-over-Heembeek, each with fifty beds.
The aim of this first reception centre is twofold. On the one hand this gives the Guardianship Service the opportunity to check whether the minor is effectively a minor and unaccompanied. On the other hand a first medical, psychological and social profile is drawn up of the minor (observation) in the observation and orientation centre. The aim is to determine to which reception centre the minor can be referred (orientation). Minors will spend two to four weeks in this centre. These centres receive young people who have applied for asylum as well as those who have not.

Custom reception in a centre
After their stay in Steenokkerzeel or Neder-over-Heembeek minors are then referred to a second, collective reception centre. There the minors are accommodated in separate structures. They stay in separate living groups with their own team of educators and supervisors.