According to a press release on VRT nws, unaccompanied minors have often had to wait months to get a guardian. A year ago, there was a waiting list of around 1.000 unaccompanied minors for a guardian. The waiting list was mainly the result of an increased influx of minors, linked to the start of the war in Ukraine and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

Over the past year, the Guardianship Service has managed to completely end the waiting list. On the one hand, the influx of minors has decreased since mid-2023, and on the other hand, measures have been taken, including the hiring of additional guardians and a tax change allowing voluntary guardians to accompany 8 rather than 5 minors without being taxed.

Thanks to these efforts, the Federal Public Service Justice is now able to assign a guardian to an unaccompanied foreign minor within the normal period of 8 weeks. There are currently 695 guardians who support 3.811 unaccompanied foreign minors in Belgium. Most of them (542) do this voluntarily.

As the demand for guardians can hardly be predicted, the Guardianship Service is still urgently looking for guardians who would be interested in assisting unaccompanied foreign minors in their procedure for international protection, in their school career, their medical appointments, the management of their pocket money, etc.

For more information on the terms and conditions for becoming a guardian, please visit this web page in French or in Dutch.