which key information about their situation was not recorded and some were denied the chance to explain why they left their country of origin or their families. With only one opportunity to ask for asylum in Europe under the European Union’s Dublin II regulation, once children are released from detention in Greece, many attempt to travel onwards to Italy and other EU countries—often a risky and lifethreatening journey. In Italy, they may find themselves summarily returned to Greece. Those who travel onwards after they made an asylum application in Greece may be transferred back under the Dublin II regulation that allows EU member states to return any asylum seeker, including unaccompanied children, to the country where they first asked for asylum. There is a severe shortage of safe accommodation for unaccompanied foreign children. As of November 2008, the Ministry of Health funded or co-funded only around 200 places in care institutions. This is far from the number needed for children already in the country, much less for those expected to arrive in the months to come—yet the ministry has no plans to extend this provision. There is no specialized center for unaccompanied girls and no foster family system is available for unaccompanied migrant children. Indeed, the reality is that children who have not asked for asylum have less chance of accessing a care placement, and finding places for those who are seeking asylum is equally a struggle. The recent opening of a care center for up to 100 unaccompanied children on Lesvos Island is an encouraging step. However, as a large-scale center in an isolated and remote location, it is only adequate as a transit center but not for extended placement. As a result of the lack of care places, unaccompanied children are typically released from detention with nothing but a deportation order requiring them to leave the country, but no further assistance. If they fail to leave the country and do not apply for asylum, or otherwise fail to access or fall out of the asylum procedures, they are subject to renewed arrest and detention and at risk of deportation. Most find themselves without accommodation and therefore sleep in parks, share apartments with adult strangers, or otherwise find overcrowded and squalid accommodation, such as over-crowded “hotels,” typically decrepit buildings in the Left to Survive 4