The variety of unaccompanied migrant minors below Council of Mallorca supervision has risen from 83 who arrived by small boats in 2022 to 170 to date this yr.
In 2016 there have been eleven minors. Over time 2011 to 2015 there have been by no means any greater than 4 per yr.
There may be nothing just like the migration disaster skilled within the Canaries, the place some 6,000 minors have created such strains on native authorities that the Spanish authorities has organized for distribution to different areas, however social providers in Mallorca are involved as a result of there’s an absence of satisfactory services. The Council’s Institute of Social Affairs (IMAS) at present has 303 migrant minors below its supervision.
There are repercussions for the residential care service for minors born in Mallorca. With out a rise in price range and employees, the Council fears that the scenario will overwhelm them if the Spanish authorities would not assist financially. The president of IMAS, Guillermo Sánchez, estimates that the added value of the continued arrival of minors will probably be some 20 million euros.
The Balearic authorities’s minister for social affairs, Catalina Cirer, means that this determine may simply double to 40 million euros. “It is a scenario that’s getting out of hand. It is severe and will worsen.” The price to the Council is put at 86,000 euros per particular person per yr.
After arriving within the Balearics, the Nationwide Police are liable for figuring out which migrants are minors with the intention to refer them to the IMAS. The institute sends them to a centre to start their integration course of.
In Spain, any minors who arrive illegally have the proper of residence and the related administration should take cost of them till they’re adults. Throughout this transition, social providers strive to make sure that they combine as a lot as attainable, be taught the language and bear coaching with the goal of having the ability to get a job.
