“No child should sleep on the streets,” says Catalan work and families minister

Catalonia is faced with handling a sudden rise in the number of unaccompanied and underage migrants arriving in the country.

On Wednesday, the work and families minister, Chakir El Homrani, said the system for protecting such minors needs to be redesigned so as to better cope with the influx.

The numbers of underage and unaccompanied migrants arriving in Catalonia has gone up from around 400 in 2016, to some 3,000 expected this year.

With dozens of the migrants forced to sleep in police stations due to a lack of places, El Homrani said the priority was that "no child should have to sleep on the streets."

Creating more reception centers for the migrants, more residential centers (two new ones are set to open by the end of this week), lodging the children with foster families, and providing educational and emotional support are among the measures being considered.

El Homrani said that a meeting would take place before the end of the year with the various actors involved to discuss what changes to make to the current system. The minister also called for all political parties to work together on the issue.

Criticism from opposition

However, the opposition parties criticized the government for a lack of "foresight and planning" in resolving the issue, as well as for a failure to coordinate with local authorities.