Under this year’s World Children’s Day theme, “My Day, My Rights” we are encouraged to remember and recognize that beyond policies and frameworks, children’s rights are building blocks that shape the lived experiences of young lives across the globe. For this very reason, it is vital to listen to their voices and promote their right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
Transition to adulthood is never simple, but for unaccompanied children, it’s a journey that comes with a unique set of challenges. From navigating immigration and educational systems in a new country to balancing family expectations with personal aspirations, unaccompanied children transitioning to adulthood must demonstrate incredible resourcefulness in creating pathways to future experiences and finding community in unexpected places.
We are proud to contribute to shedding light on the need to strengthen guardianship and legal support for unaccompanied children in Europe through the project My Coming of Age Story (CO.A.ST). The project is co-funded by the European Union and carried out by a consortium of organizations led by CIR – Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati (Italy), in partnership with KIND (Belgium and Slovakia), Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l’Homme (France), ELIL – European Lawyers in Lesvos (Greece and Poland), and PIC (Legal center for the protection of human rights and the environment, Slovenia).
Within the CO.A.ST project, we’re proud to collaborate with expert organizations like VOICIFY who sit on the project’s Scientific Advisory Board. VOICIFY members’ lived experience and hands-on work with unaccompanied children bring depth and authenticity to every discussion. VOICIFY recently contributed to training delivered as part of CO.A.ST where they led a session on what success looks like when supporting young people transitioning to adulthood. Following on from that session, we caught up with Cihan Kilic on this topic and the theme of World Children’s Day where he offers valuable insights and a thoughtful message.
Can you introduce VOICIFY and the importance of fostering the participation of children and young people with lived migration experiences?
VOICIFY – The European Forum for Youth with Lived Migration Experience aims to be the voice of youth with lived migration experiences in the EU and their self-led organizations, standing up for their rights, needs and interests, including their rights to organize and participate politically. VOICIFY was born from a simple but radical truth: that those who have lived through displacement hold the deepest knowledge of what justice means. As our Manifesto states “We, the youth with lived migration experiences, declare our right to a life of dignity, equity, and justice. In an era of increasing borders, both physical and ideological, we envision a Europe that guarantees equal access to rights and opportunities, enabling all people to live as their true selves and reach their full potential”.
How does VOICIFY work to support unaccompanied children on the move who are transitioning to adulthood?
VOICIFY support grass-roots organizations working with unaccompanied children on the move who are transitioning to adulthood through training where they develop competences to identify challenges to access their rights and to advocate on a local level.
We create spaces where unaccompanied youth build collective meaning, speaking not from trauma, but from strength; not asking for permission, but asserting presence. Our role at VOICIFY is to challenge the systems that have denied it.
We ensure that youth with lived migration experiences, including unaccompanied children, are not only included in discussions about migration and inclusion but are central to them. We work to make visible the expertise that comes from lived experience and to create spaces where this expertise is recognized. VOICIFY collects the challenges faced by the Young Refugees, Exiled, Migrants, Asylum Seekers & Undocumented (YREMASUD) community and compile them in Part of Europe reports, and use for advocacy. When those most affected by exclusion and displacement shape decisions, policies become more just, inclusive, and sustainable.
We build capacities through non-formal education developing competences on rights-based advocacy so that these young people can take ownership of their stories and influence systems that often exclude them. Through partnerships with networks and youth-led organizations, we promote participatory mechanisms that recognize the specific challenges and strengths of those transitioning to adulthood, bridging the gap between child protection and youth inclusion.
VOICIFY has organized seminars in collaboration with the Council of Europe, in 2024 (Supporting Confidence at 18) and in 2025 (Supporting Young Refugees: The Next Chapter). The seminars aimed to reassessing the current needs and situations faced by young refugees and migrants in transition to adulthood and supporting advocacy and practice to implement the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on Supporting Young Refugees in Transition to Adulthood.
What does success look like when supporting unaccompanied children and young people before, during, and after transitioning to adulthood?
Success is not measured by integration checklists or bureaucratic milestones. Success is when a young person no longer has to explain their humanity to be recognized as fully human. Success means that unaccompanied children are not treated as temporary beneficiaries of care but as rights-holders and active members of society.
Before transition, success is:
- A child is listened to sincerely, not managed.
- When institutions learn from the young people they once aimed to “save,” and when those young people transform those institutions from within.
- Ensuring their participation in decisions affecting them and guaranteeing access to quality education, housing, and mental health support.
During transition, success means that they are accompanied with clear pathways for legal status, and self-reliance. Making it clear that rights do not expire with age.
After transition, success is community, a circle of solidarity where those who were once “unaccompanied” accompany others. When these young people can stand as equals and are connected to supportive networks.
What advice would you give to guardians and support workers/actors working with unaccompanied children as they come of age?
- Adopting a rights-based and person-centred approach that also strengthens guardians and support workers to recognize unaccompanied children as partners in their own path, not just as service recipients.
- Accompanying rather than directing; co-creating plans rather than imposing them. Strengthening the young person’s participation and autonomy early on, so that turning 18 becomes a transition of empowerment, not a sudden loss of protection.
- Connecting them to youth organisations and community spaces that enhance belonging and continuity of care. It is not about helping the child “adapt” to Europe; it is about collectively helping Europe remember about human rights and dignity.
What message of hope and encouragement would you share with unaccompanied children and youth facing an uncertain future?
The systems that failed you were never designed for your liberation, but your very existence already defies them.
Your experiences are not a weakness but a source of competence that can change how Europe sees and supports young people. In the struggle for belonging, you are never alone: There are networks, like VOICIFY and many others, built by young people who have walked similar paths and who are working to make systems more just and more humane.
My Coming-of-Age Story”, co-funded by the European Union, through the 2021-2027 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) – Project 101141181 CO.A.ST-Amif 2023-TF2-AG-Call CO.A.ST – My Coming of Age Story.
