Social Work & Society ▪▪▪ A. Fili, V. Xythali: The Continuum of Neglect: Unaccompanied Minors in Greece Greece. Reception and identification procedures refer to the registration and verification of identity, including the nationality, the medical and psychosocial screening, the provision of information for international protection and voluntary return and referral to relevant services and authorities (Law 4375/2016, Chapter B, Article 9). Yet, due to the small number of existing Reception and Identification Centers (RIC) and Reception and Accommodation Mobile Units compared to the numerous points of entry, the initial registration process is often conducted by the Hellenic Coastguard or by the local Police, whose staff are not professionally qualified for such tasks. At points where RIC are located (currently in Lesvos, Fylakio-Orestiada and Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros) UAM are placed in protective custody at dedicated areas of the facility while in all other cases they are kept either at the regional police station or at hotspots and detentions centers, sometimes sharing the same space with adults. Compounding matters, following the EU-Turkey deal, uniform detention decisions are applied to all new arrivals, transforming RIC to detention spaces. These are more than often severely overcrowded and run without the provision of age appropriate spaces and services for minors. In this context, psychosocial care is not the priority. In response, these services are subcontracted to Non-governmental organizations (NGO), which, in turn, are not provided with appropriate space for their staff to work in. These shortcomings in first reception procedures have led to minors being wrongfully identified and registered. For example, it is common for authorities to register minors as unaccompanied even when travelling with members of their extended family, leading to their forceful separation, allegedly for their protection. On the other hand, the authors have also observed the reverse case. During 2015, an exponential increase was identified in classifying minors at entry points as accompanied by non-related adults; thus, signing off their early release. This phenomenon relates to periods when the number of people in detention is significantly larger than the available accommodation spaces; thus, ‘allowing’ for wrongful registrations in order to 13 alleviate pressure on the detention system . While this can be hardly monitored and captured in official statistics, the frequency and similarity of these incidents, we have experienced in practice, point to the conclusion that these are not isolated errors. The lack of uniform procedures with regard to the assessment of UAM and of specialized staff at points of entry and the absence of any identity documents that would (dis)prove any relations, grant authorities a wide margin of discretion. The effects of these practices are not lost on the minors, who try to navigate their way out of or inside the system. Minors upon consideration of their available options and consultation by other adults or indeed smugglers opt to either declare to be of age or to claim to be minors when obviously adults. Children may try to pass as adults to avoid prolonged detention while waiting to be placed in a reception facility with very limited spaces or to evade any administrative obstacles to their fast journeys through EU borders, as was the case in 2015. Young adults may claim to be underage to enjoy a more lenient treatment. Despite their intentions, both practices have reinforced a prevailing culture of disbelief as minors’ age and right to protection are continuously doubted and denied by the responsible authorities. 13 In 2015, the wave through approach in Greece received official standing vis-à-vis increased arrivals from Syria and the Horn of Africa. With an overwhelmed reception system due to severe staff shortages, Greek officials neither registered nor fingerprinted most of the new arrivals (Greek Council for Refugees 2015). Social Work & Society, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2017 ISSN 1613-8953 ▪▪▪ http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:464-sws-1264 4