For many unaccompanied minors, turning 18 means losing, almost overnight, the protection system that had been built around them. The report The Right to Adulthood describes what happens in this gap in Greece: amid bureaucracy, housing insecurity and the risk of exploitation, but also the daily work needed to build real pathways towards autonomy.
What happens when a young person turns 18? What happens when, from one day to the next, the system that had until then recognized them as a minor and protected them comes to an end? How can a young person support themselves when, now considered an adult, they no longer have access to reception facilities, legal guardianship and social support? For many unaccompanied foreign minors, the transition to adulthood does not mark the beginning of a new autonomy, but rather the opening of a protection gap. This is the reality that INTERSOS HELLAS witnesses every day in Greece, and from which the report The Right to Adulthood was born. The report was produced as part of the project “Protection for all Minors: Path to Safety and Stability”, between March 2025 and February 2026.
The report analyzes the difficulties faced by unaccompanied minors and young adults on their path towards autonomy. In Greece, despite the progress made in recent years in the protection system, many young people continue to live in extremely precarious conditions. As of 1 January 2026, 1,716 unaccompanied minors were present in the country’s reception facilities. But this figure does not capture the full scale of the phenomenon: the number of those living outside the formal reception system, often in unsafe or invisible conditions, remains uncertain.
The project reached 143 people — a number that may seem limited, but which in reality reflects intensive work, built with commitment, person by person. Among those supported, 90.9% were boys and 9.1% girls, mainly young adults between the ages of 18 and 21, in some cases up to 23 years old, with activities also targeting minors aged 16 and 17 who were approaching adulthood. Most came from Egypt and Somalia, but beneficiaries also included young people from Afghanistan, Syria, Congo, Yemen, Pakistan, Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Türkiye.
Why are young adults more vulnerable?
In Greece, for these young people, turning 18 often means losing access to facilities for unaccompanied minors and to the guardianship system. Those who are 17 or close to 18 also risk no longer being considered a priority by reception mechanisms, while the appointment of a legal guardian may arrive late or not at all. Without a guardian, even essential activities such as enrolling in school, accessing training opportunities or regularizing one’s employment status become more complex.
Housing is one of the first emergencies. In the Attica region, many young people live in insecure housing conditions, share overcrowded accommodation with compatriots or risk ending up on the street. Work is another central issue. The report highlights that many young people are already involved in informal, irregular and often dangerous forms of work, especially in the construction sector. This is not simply a matter of unemployment, but rather a situation in which work exists, yet is precarious, undeclared and sometimes exploitative. Added to this is the lack of documents. Difficulties in obtaining a tax identification number, a social security number, a bank account or a regular contract fuel a vicious cycle: documents are needed in order to work legally, but obtaining some documents often requires proof of already having a job.
In this context, the risks of exploitation increase. Some young people are approached by people who promise to “sort out their documents” in exchange for money or work. Others accept harsh conditions, low wages or unpaid work because they see no alternatives. Limited knowledge of the Greek language and of their own rights makes everything even more difficult.
INTERSOS’ response
The work of INTERSOS HELLAS starts from the most urgent and concrete needs: understanding each young person’s situation, reconstructing their journey, identifying risks and accompanying them step by step through the services they need. This means helping them navigate public offices, documents, medical appointments, housing searches and legal pathways, but also preparing them to enter the labour market more safely: from writing a CV to knowing their rights, and connecting them with training and employment opportunities. Alongside this, Greek language courses and workshops on everyday life skills become essential tools for overcoming isolation and building autonomy.
In the first year of activities, 547 individual support sessions were carried out, 85 people took part in Greek language courses and 78 attended workshops. Among them, fifteen beneficiaries found a housing solution and four managed to access regular employment.
These figures speak of concrete impact, but also of a much broader need. As the report emphasizes, targeted, flexible and small-scale interventions can produce significant and measurable results in the lives of the young people supported. But the problem remains structural and, too often, invisible. It concerns those who arrived in Europe imagining a safer future, only to find themselves dealing with hard and unstable work, procedures that are difficult to understand, and responsibilities that are too heavy for their age. Making this transition visible is the first step towards building more adequate and continuous responses.