release from Petrou Ralli detention center in Athens is typical of what children told us: “When I was released I got no information. I was told to disappear. I was accompanied up to the gate, then they said ‘leave’…. After I was released I spent the first night at Omonia.”218 In most cases, children are left to their own devices the day they are released from detention.219 The Greek Council for Refugees told Human Rights Watch that care places are often not immediately available, even for children and families: “sometimes, it takes between one and three months to get accommodation. Children and families are treated as a priority.”220 Once a place is found the permission to finally send a child to the location also takes time—time during which a child is left without accommodation: “we used to contact an NGO directly, transfer the child and inform the Ministry of Health afterwards. Now we have to inform the Ministry of Health which informs the Ministry of Interior and only then the child can be transferred,” Human Rights Watch was told.221 Since July 2008, unaccompanied children who arrive on Lesvos and Samos Islands are referred to a newly renovated former sanatorium on Lesvos Island that offers care places for 100 unaccompanied children. While the status of this center remains unclear, it appears from its set-up that it should function as a transit center rather than a place for long-term accommodation. In a very isolated location and with a capacity for 100 children, it is ill-designed to offer unaccompanied children long-term care which allows real opportunity for social, educational, and economic integration. In fact, a high number of children who had been referred to this center gradually absconded from it.222 While not in a position to set out the individual circumstances that caused particular children to leave, important factors that contribute to children absconding from care centers include the fact that unaccompanied children who do 218 Human Rights Watch interview with Ali N. (exact date and location withheld). Omonia is a square in central Athens. 219 Authorities opened a new care center on Lesvos Island where children who arrive to the Aegean Islands of Lesvos or Samos can be referred to, if places are available. In November 2008, Human Rights Watch was told that the center was full. 220 Human Rights Watch interview with social services department, Greek Council for Refugees, Athens, April 24, 2008. 221 Human Rights Watch interview with Alexandros Anastasiou, coordinator, social services department, Greek Council for Refugees, Athens, June 6, 2008. 222 Email correspondence from UNHCR-Greece to Human Rights Watch, July 9, 2008. Left to Survive 68