The Detection and Intervention Service with Lone Migrant Children, Teenagers and Young People (SDI) turns 25 having assisted nearly 4,000 people through a comprehensive and community-based perspective. The pioneering local service detects and supports lone migrant children, teenagers and young people to guarantee them access to the system of protection, assistance and social inclusion.

Work with minors is carried out with the Catalan government’s General Directorate of Child and Adolescent Care (DGAIA), the body responsible in this area, while personalised support is carried out with young people to support them in their search for their own personal autonomy. The comprehensive and community-based assistance given by the service offers protection, ongoing support and resources while working in coordination with other administrations and municipal services to improve coexistence and social cohesion.  The service also acts as the Observatory for the Migration of Children and Young People without adults of reference on the city.

In terms of the volume of assistance provided, the service attended to around a hundred children a year on average up until 2016, with the figures increasing significantly from that point and peaking in 2018. In parallel to this assistance, the service has also grown over the years since it was launched in 1999, with the initial staff of 3 growing to 17, plus two new members of staff set to join in December. This increase will bolster the teams working in public space, on the streets, with the goal of guaranteeing the rights of children and supporting processes for the recovery of those of legal age.

Opportunities Home and Maria Feixa

The Opportunities Home and the Maria Feixa accommodation centre have played an important part in this process too, operating continuously as resources providing comprehensive support for homeless young people between the ages of 18 and 23. The two centres have assisted 360 young people since the pandemic.