Proposed adjustments by the Family Ministry regarding unaccompanied refugee minors are stirring significant outcry among professional associations and in the opposition benches of parliament. Commenting on the matter, Lennart Scholz, a speaker for the Federal Association for Childhood and Refugee Issues (BuMF), asserted that establishing a mandatory residence requirement backed by potential fines solely for refugee children and teenagers would be discriminatory and utterly fail to resolve any underlying problems. He added that the planned changes were “unconstitutional and contrary to European law”.
Unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Germany are currently assigned to local youth welfare offices, which are responsible for their accommodation and care. According to the federal government, in the 2022/2023 period, care was suspended for over one in ten minors because they left their assigned residences. The new draft law introduces the threat of a fine for such instances, ostensibly to better protect the minors.
This proposal met with immediate strong opposition. Heidi Reichinnek, the parliamentary group leader for The Left party, dismissed the plan entirely as “simply rubbish”. She argued that minors under the care of youth services are incapable of paying fines, suggesting the measure amounted to an unnecessary criminalization that failed to account for their best interests.
Denise Loop, the Green Party’s youth policy spokesperson, warned that the measure implied a severe restriction on the freedom of these children and teenagers. She called the plan a “fatal signal” capable of massively hindering their ability to integrate into society, stressing that unaccompanied foreign minors must first and foremost be treated as children and adolescents.
